OLD LANDMARKS 



HISTORIC PERSONAGES 



OF BOSTON. 



By SAMUEL ADAMS DEAKE. 



Pcofttsicli) lUttStmtci). 




BOSTON": 
JAMES n. OSGOOD AND COMPANY, 

Late Ticknor & Fields, and Fields, Osgood, & Co. 

1874. 






Kntcred aecordiiig to Act of Congress, in tbe year 1S72, 

BY JAMKS R. OSGOOD & CO., 

in tlie Office of tlio Librarian of Congress, at AVashiiigton. 




lu Kxchango 
A.xi«*r. Aut. Soo, 
26 il '907 



University Press: Welch, Bigei.ow, & Co., 

Cambridge. 



PEEFACE 



THE author has had a twofold object in presenting 
this work for the acceptance of the public. 

Besides the preservation of the old landmarks, now so 
rapidly disappearing before the era of improvement, there 
is a very general desire to know where the actors lived 
who have given Boston such prominence in the history 
of our country. 

The plan has been adopted, in viewing old localities, to 
tell for what they have been famous, and to briefly charac- 
terize or give some conspicuous traits and pu1)lic services 
of the personages mentioned. 

In view of the limits prescribed for this volume it has 
been found necessary to condense from the abundant ma- 
terial in the author's possession, bnt it is believed the 
more important features have been given. 

Wliile the numerous local publications have been care- 
fully examined, the author has in all cases preferred orig- 
inal authorities in the work of compilation, and has en- 
deavored to give credit where it is due. The 1 )eaten track 
has been avoided as far as possible, and preference given 
to such topics as have either escaped mention altogether, 
or received but little notice from former writers. 

In a work so largely statistical it would be a surprise if 
errors did not exist, but unwearied pains have been taken 
to avoid them and to render the work as free from this 
objection as possible. 



A'l PREFACE. 

The autlior believes that antiquarian suhjects need not 
of necessity be either dry or uninteresting, and has aimed 
to make these pages agreeable to the general reader, — 
a class he is happy to say in which a growing interest 
in the early history of the founders of New England is 
evident. 

Many persons have laid the autlior under obligations 
by the loan of documents or by communicating valuable 
inlbrmation. He would express his deep sense of the 
favors and assistance rendered him by tliat eminent and 
thoroughly unseltisli antiquarian, John Ward Dean, and 
also by Miss E. S. Quincy and John H. Dexter. Among 
the many persons consulted, who have kindly contributed 
in various ways to the success of this work, are CArxAiN 
George H. Preble, U. S. N., Isaac Story, Lemuel Shaw, 
Oeorge Mountfort, William H. Montague, J. Win- 
gate Thornton, Eowland Ellis, and Timothy Dodd, 
Esqrs., the latter of whom, at the advanced age of ninety- 
three, still retains a clear recollection of Boston as it 
existed three quarters of a centuiy ago. 

Boston, IMass., October 22, 1872. 



EXPLANATORY NOTE. 



AFTEPi these pages had passed throiigh the press, the most 
vital i)art of Boston, commercially, was laid in aslies hy 
the conflagration of November 9 and 10, 1872, which clauns 
the sad eminence of being the greatest of the fires with 
which the town or city has from time to time been scourged. 
In a few short hours millions in reality took to themselves 
wings and were dissolved in the vapor that rose above the 
desert of blackened ruins, and was mournfully regarded at 
their homes in the vicinity by half a million spectators. 

The district destroyed is mainly comprehended in Chapters 
IX. and XIII., and it becomes necessary to instruct the reader 
who peruses these chapters that he should suljstitute the phrase 
" here lies " for " here stands," where particular localities arc 
designated. 

Although the fire has swept away many of the edifices by 
which we indicated the habitations of the old residents, it is 
believed that these descriptions will not lessen the value of the 
work, now that they include not only the buildings lately 
standing, but constitute in effect a chart of the whole region 
destroyed as it existed previous to this disaster. 

Amid the fearful devastation which has taken place, we can- 
not restrain a mental thanksgiving that those two monuments 
so dear to every Bostonian, the Old South and the Old State 
House, were spared, and Ave venture to express the hope tliat 
steeple and tower may long continue to stand in the midst 
of reyeuerated Bostun. 



CONTENTS 



IXTRODUCTIOX. 

Myles Standish. — WiUiam Blackstone. — Shawmut. — Sottlpmeiit by 
Wiiitlirop's Company. — Trimouiitain. — Boston. — Physical Features. 

— Area. — Settlement by Indians. — Cliaracter of first Buildings. — 
First Location of the Settlers. — Geograpliical Divisions. — Wood and 
Water. — Dress. — Manners and Customs. — Slavery. — Curious old 
-Laws. — Government of the Town. — Allotment of Lands. — Intoler- 
ance of the Times. — The Pulj^it a Means of Intelligence. — Accounts 
by various Writers. — Town Records. — General Growth and Progress. 

— Population. — Wards. — Paving the Streets. — Lighting the Streets. 

— Supply of Water. — Enlargement of Boston. — Commimication with 
Mainland. — Ferries. — Bridges. — Coaches, Public and Private. — 
Railways 



CHAPTER I. 

KIXG's CII.iPEL AND THE NPJGHBORIIOOD. 

History of the Chapel. — Establishment of the Church of England. — 
Chapel Burial-Ground. — Boston Athenajum. — Academy of Arts and 
Sciences. — Historical Society. — The Museum. — The Old Corner. — 
Royal Custom House. — Washington. — H. G. Otis. — Daniel Webster. 

— Tremont Street. — Howard Street. — Pemberton Hill. — Endicott. — 
Captain Southack. — Theodore Lyman, Senior. — John Cotton. — Sir 
Henry Vane. — Samuel Sewall. — Gardiner Greene. — Earl Percy. — 
Bellingham. — Faneuil. — Phillips. ■ — Davenport. — Oxenbridge. — ■ 
Beacon Street. — School Street. — Latiii School. — Franklin Statue. 

— City Hall. — Otis. — Warren. — Mascarene. — Cromwell's Head. — 
The Old Corner Bookstoj-e. — Anne Hutchinson. — Tlie French Church. 

— Catholic Church. — Second Universalist. — Province Street. — Cha])- 
man Place. — James Lovell. — The Wendells 23 



X CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER 11. 

FROM TIIH ORANGE-TREE TO THE OLD EUICK. 

IlauovLT Street. — General Warren. — The Orange-Tree. — Coneert Hall. 

— Brattle Street. — Samuel Gore. — John Sniibert. — Nathaniel Snii- 
Lert. — Colonel Tninibull. — The Adelplii. — Scollay's Buildings and 
S<iuare. — Queen Street Writing School. — Master James Carter.— 
Cornhill. — Brattle Street Parsonage. — Old Prison. — Captain Kidd. 

— Court Houses. — Franklin Avenue. — Kneeland. — Franklin. — 
Edes and Gill. — Green and Russell. — First Book and Newspaper 
printed in Boston. — Rufus Choate. — Governor Leverett. — John A. 
Amlrew. — Henry Dunster. — Town Pump. — Old Brick. — General 
Knox. — Count Ruml'ord. — John Winslow . . . . . . G8 

CTIATTER III. 

FROM THE OLD STATE HOUSE TO BOSTON PIER. 

Captain Keayne. — Coggan, first Shopkeeper. — Old Cornliill. — Old 
State House. — First Church. — Stocks and Whipping-Post. — John 
Wilson. — Wilson's Lane. — United States Bank. — Royal E.xchange 
Tavern. — William Sheaffe. — Royal Custom House. — Exchange Cof- 
fee House. — "Columbian Centinel." — Benjanun Russell. — Louis , 
Philippe. — Louis Napoleon. — Congress Street. — Governors Dummer 
and Belclier. — First United States Custom House. — Post-Office. — 
Bunch of Grapes. — General Lincoln. — General Dearl)orn. — Fir.st 
Circulating Lilirary. — British Coffee House. — Merchants' Row. — 
First Inn. — Lord Ley. — Miantonimoh. — Kilby Street. — Oliver's 
Dock. — Liberty Stpuire. — Tlie Stamp Office. — Broad Street. — Com- 
modore Downes. — Broad Street Riot. — India Street and Wharf. — 
Admiral Vernon. — Crown Coffee House. — Butler's Row. — The 
Custom House. — Retrospective View of State Street. — Long Wharf. — 
TheBarricado.—TWiiarf.— Embarkation for Bunker Hill . . 88 

CHAPTER IV. 

BRATTLE SQUARE AND THE TOWN DOCK. 

Old Cornhill. — Paul Revere. — Amos and Abl)ott Lawrence. — Boyls- 
ton's Alley. — Barracks of the 29th. — Blue Anchor. — Brattle Street 
Church. — CJeneral Gage. — Howe, Clinton, and Burgoyne. — John 
Adams. — Headipiarters of Stage-Coaches. — Dock S(piare. — Tlic 
Conduit. — Town Dock described. — Quincy Market. — Origin of Mar- 
kets in Boston. — The Triangular Warehouse. — Roebuck Passage. — 
Clinton Street. — Tlie Old Market Museum. — Old Cocked Hat. — 
Faueuil Hall. — D'Estaing. — Lafayette. — Jackson. -Prince de Join- 
ville. — Jerome Pona])arte. — Lord Ashbnrton. — Tlie Portraits. — 
Corn C!ourt. — Hancock House. — Talleyrand. — State Custom House. 
— The Conscription Riot 118 



CONTENTS. XI 

CHAPTER V. 

FROM BOSTON STONE TO TUE NOKTU BATTERY. 

Tlie North End. — Boston Stone. — Painters' Arms. — Louis Philippe. — 
Union, Ehn, and Portland Streets. — Benjamin Franklin's Residence. 

— Tlie Bine Ball. — Lyman Beecher's Church. — Benjamin Hallowell. 

— Green Dragon. — Pope Day. — St. Andrew's Lodge. — Mill Pond. — 
Causeway. — Mill Creek. — North Street. — Sir D. Ochterlony. — East- 
ern Stage House. — Cross Street. — The Old Stone House. — New Brick 
Church. — The Red Lyon. — Nicholas Upshall. — Edward Randolph. — 
North Square. — Sir H. Frankland. ^ Major Shaw. — Pitcairn. — Old 
North Church. — Cotton, Samuel, and Increase Mather. — Governor 
Hutchinson. — General Boyd. — Fleet Street. — King's Head Tavern. 

— Bethel Church. — Father Taylor. — Hancock's Wharf. — Swinging 
Signs. — First Universalist Church. — First Methodist. — New North. 

— Ship Tavern. — Noah's Ark. — Salutation Tavern. — Tlie Boston 
Caucus. — The North Battery. — Trucks and Trucloaen . . . 143 

CHAPTER VI. 

A VISIT TO THE OLD SIIITYARDS. 

Early Ship-Building. — Boston Shipyards. — Massachusetts Frigate. — 
New England Naval Flag. — First Seventy-Four. — Hartt's Naval 
Yard. — The Constitution. — Her Launch, History, and E.Yploits. — • 
Anecdotes of Hull, Bainbridge, and Decatur. — Old Ironsides Rebuilt. 

— Josiah Barker. — Nicholson. — Preble. — Stewart. — Other Distin- 
guished Officers. — Escape from the British Fleet. — Anecdote of Dr. 
Bentley. — Action with the Guerriere. — The Java. — Cyane and Le- 
vant. — Relics of Old Ironsides. — Affair of the Figure-Head. — Cap- 
tain Dewey. — The Frigate Boston. — Capture of Le Berceau. — Tlie 
Argus 178 



CHAPTER VII. 

COPP'S HILL AND THE VICINITY. 

Copp's Hill. — British Works. — Ancient Arch. — Wm. Gray. — Old 
Ferry. — Reminiscences of Bunker Hill.- — The Cemetery. — Curious 
Stones, Epitaphs, etc. ■ — Old Funeral Customs. — Cliarter Street. — 
Sir William Phips. —John Foster Williams. — John Hull. — Colonial 
Mint. — Christ Church. — Revere's Night Ride. — Tlie Chimes. — The 
Vaults, — Legends of. — Major Pitcaini. — Love Lane. — North Latin 
School. — Prince Street. — Salem Church. — North End Heroes. — 
Captain Manly. — Massachusetts Spy. — First Baptist Church. — Sec- 
ond Baptist Church. — Draft Riot, 1SG3 198 



XU CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER VIII. 

THE OLD SOUTH AND PROVINCE IIOrSE. 

Marlliorough Street. — Governor Wintliroii. — Old South. — Warren's 
Orations. — ■ Tea-Party Meeting. — British Occupation. — Phillis 
Wheatley. — S^jriug Lane. — Heart and Crown. — Boston Evening 
Post. — Provuice House. — Samuel Shute. — William Burnet. — Wil- 
liam Shirley. — Thomas Powiiall. — Francis Bernard. — General Gage. 

— Lexington Expedition. — Sir William Howe. — Council of War. — 
Court Dress and Manners. — Governor Strong. — Blue Bell and In- 
dian Queen. — Lieutenant-Governor Gushing. — Josiah Quincy, Jr. — 
Mayor Quincy . 225 

CHATTER IX. 

FROM THE OLD SOTTII ROUND FORT IIILL. 

Birthplace of Fraidclin. — James Boutineau. — Bowdoin Block. — 
Hawley Street. — Devonshire and Franklin Streets. — Joseph Barrell. 

— The Tontine. — Boston Library. — Cathedral of the Holy Cross. — 
Bishop Cheverus. — Federal Street Theatre. — Some Accoimt of Early 
Theatricals in Boston. — Kean, Finn, Macready, etc. — John How- 
ard Pajiie. — Federal Street Church. — The Federal Convention. — ■ 
Madam Scott. — Robert Treat Paine. — Thomas Paine. — Congi'ess 
Street. — Quaker Church and Bury ing-G round. — Sketch of the So- 
ciety of Friends in Boston. — Merchants' Hall. — Governor Shirley's 
Funeral. — Fire of 17C0. —Pearl Street. —The Ropewalks. — The 
Grays. — Conflicts between the Rope-Makers and the Regulars. — 
Pearl Street House. — Spiirzlieim. — Washington Allston. — Theoiilii- 
lus Parsons. — T. H. Perkins. — Governor Oliver. — Quincy Mansion. 

— Governor Gore. — Liverpool Wliarf. — Tea Party and Incidents of. 

— The Sconce. — Governor Andros Deposed. — Suu Taveni. — Fort 
Hill 2.j1 

CHAPTER X. 

A TOUR ROUND THE COMMON. 

Long Acre. — Tremont House. — Mr. Clay. — President Jackson.— 
Charles Dickens. — Little House-Lot. — Tremont Theatre. — The Ca- 
dets. — Adino Paddock. — Paddock's Mall. — Granary Burying- 
Ground. — The Granary. — Almshouse. — Workhouse. — Bridewell. 

— Park Street Church. — Manufactory House. — Linen-Spinning In- 
troduced. — Elisha Brown. — Massachusetts Bank. — Incident of the 
Lexington Expedition. — Tlie Common. — Its Origin. — The Gi-eat 
Mall. — Fences. — Winter Street. — Governor Bernard. — John Mc- 
Lean. — Samuel Adams. — St. Paul's. — Masonic Temi)le. — Margaret 
Fuller. — Washington Gardens. — The Hayniarket. — West Street. — 



CONTENTS. XIU 

The Gun-House. — Colonnade Row. — Massachusetts Medical College. 

— Haynuirket Theatre. — Boylston Street. — Jolin Quiucy Adams. 

— General Moreau. — Charles Francis Adams ..... 2S9 



CHAPTER XI. 

A TOUR ROUND THE COMMON CONTINUED. 

Common Burying-Ground. — Joshua Bates. — Public Garden. — Roiie- 
walks. — Topography of the Common. — British Troops on. — Descrip- 
tion of tlieir Camps. — The Light Horse. — Powder House. — Old 
Elm. — Witchcraft and Quaker Executions. — The Duel in 1728. — 
Mill-Dam. — Mexican Volunteers. — Beacon Street. — Prescott. — 
Copley. — John Phillips. — Wendell Phillips. — Robert C. Wiuthrop. 

— Hancock Mansion. — Governor Hancock. — General Clinton. — 
State House. — Public Statues, etc. — The Beacon. — The Monument. 

— Lafayette's Residence. — George Ticknor. — Malbone. — Samuel 
Dexter. — Incidents of Lafayette's Visit in 1824. — Josiah Quiucy, 

Jr. — Historical Resume. — Reiaeal of the Stamp Act .... 323 

CHAPTER XII. 

VALLEY ACRE, THE BOWLING GREEN, AND WEST BOSTON. 

Governor Bowdoin. — General Burgojnie. — Boston Society in 1782. — 
David Hinckley's Stone Houses. — James Lloyd. — Lafayette. — Dan- 
iel Davis. — Admiral Davis. — Historic Genealogical Society. — VaUey 
Acre. — Uriah Cotting. — Governor Eustis. — Anecdote of Governor 
Brooks. — Millerite Tabernacle. — Howard Athenaium. — Bowling 
Green. —Old Boston Physicians. — Charles Bulfinch. — New Fields. 

— Peter Chardon. — Mrs. Pelham. — Peter Pelham. — Tliomas Melvill. 

— Dr. William Jenks. — Captain Gooch. — West Church. — Leverett 
Street Jail. — Poor Debtors. — Almshouse. — Massachusetts General 
Hospital. — Medical College. — National and Eagle Theatres . . 301 

CHAPTER XIII. 

FROM CHURCH GREEN TO LIBERTY TREE. 

Church Green. — New South Church. — Dr. Kirkland. — American Head- 
quarters. — General Heath. — Anecdote of General Gates. — Jerome 
Bonaparte. — Sir William Pepperell. — Nathaniel Bowditch. — George 
Bancroft. — Trinity Church. — Seven Star Inn and Lane. — Peter 
Faneuil. — Governor Sullivan. — Small-Pox Parties. — Duke of Kent. 

— Sir Edmund Andros. — Lamb Tavern. — White Horse Tavern. — 
Colonel Daniel Messinger. — Lion Tavern. — Handel and Haydn So- 
ciety. — Lion Tlieatre. — Curious Statement about Rats . . .380 



xiv CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER XIV. 

LIBERTY TREE AND THE NEIOIIEORIIOOD. 

Liberty Tree. — Its History. — Hanover Siiuare. — Liberty Hall. — 
Hanging in Effigy. — Auchmuty's Lane. — The Old Suffolk Bench and 
Bar. — Boylston Market. — Charles Matthews. — James E. Murdoch. 
■ — Peggy Moore's. — Washington Bank. — Beach Street Museum. — 
Essex Street. — Rainsford's Lane. —Harrison Avemie. — Adnural Sir 
Isaac Coffin. — GeneralJohn Coffin. —Anecdote of Admiral Cotthi. — 
Sir Thomas Aston Coffin. — Henry Bass. — Old Dlstill-Houses. — 
Manufacture of Rum. — Gilbert Stuart, — Anecdotes of. — First Glass 
Works. — Disappearance of Trees. — Early planting of Trees. — Sir 
Rogej Hale Sheaffe. — South Cove. — Hollis Street. — Colonel John 
Crane. — General Ebenezer Stevens. — Mather Byles, — Anecdotes of. 

— Hollis Street Church. —Fire of 1787 3t)G 

CHAPTER XV. 

THE NECK AND THE FORTIFICATIONS. 

The Neck described. — Measures to protect the Road. — Paving the 
Neck. — Henry T. Tuckerman. — Old Houses vs. Modern. — Massa- 
chusetts Mint. —The Gallows. — Anecdote of Warren. — Executions. 

— Early Fortifications. — The British Works and Armament. — Amer- 
ican Works. — George Tavern. — Washington's Staff. — His Personal 
Traits. — Washington House. — Wasliington Hotel. — Anecdotes of 
George Tavern. — Scarcity of Powder. — Continental Flags. — Entry 
of Washington's Army. — Entry of Rochambeau's Army. —Paul 
Jones ■^IS 



INDEX 



439 



ILLUSTRATIONS. 



Page 

America in Distress 359 

Ancient House iu Dock Square ........ 133 

Ancient Mill 199 

Ancient Ship . . . . . . . . . . . .178 

Beacon, The 349 

Blue Ball, The 1« 

Boston Stone 143 

Boston Theatre and Franklin Street . 257 

Brattle Street Church 123 

British Lines on Boston Neck, 1775 425 

Cavalier 11 

Christ C;hurch 213 

Colonial Currency, One Penny . . ...... 237 

Colonial Currency, Two Pence ........ 237 

Colonial Currency, Three Pence 238 

Colonial Stamp, Half-PeuTiy ......... 239 

Colonial Stamp, Two Pence ......... 240 

Colonial Stamp, Three Pence 240 

Colonial Stamp, Four Pence 240 

Colony Seal 242 

Constitution's Figure-Head carried in the War of 1S12 .... 182 

Constitution hauled up on the Ways 192 

Endicott cutting out the Cross 48 

Exchange Cofl'ee-House 98 

Faneuil Hall before its Enlargement 134 

Faneuil Hall with Quincy Market lljO 

Faneuil Hall Lottery Ticket 343 

I'aneuil, Peter, Autogi-aph 387 

First Baptist Church in 1853 151 

Franklin's Birthplace 252 

Franklaud's Mansion I(j4 

Gage, General, Autograph 243 

Glasgow Frigate . . . .' 208 



XVI ILLUSTRATIONS. 

Granary Burying-Ground 297 

Great Mall, Hayiiiarket aud Theatre ..... Frontispiece 

Hancock House 339 

llollis Street Cliurch 415 

Indian Wigwam ..... ..... 8 

J alien House 270 

King's Chapel in 1872 29 

Lafayette's Residence 3.^)3 

Liberty Tree 397 

Linen Spinning-Wheel 302 

Massachusetts Cent of 1787 422 

Massachusetts General Hospital 377 

Mather Tomb 204 

Monument (Beacon Hill) 350 

New Brick Church 15G 

New England Flag . 179 

New North Church 173 

New South Church 380 

Old Brick Church 84 

Old Corner Bookstore <>2 

01<1 Court-House 59 

Old Elm, The 330 

Old Federal Street Church 2C3 

01.1 King's Chapel 31 

Old Loom 322 

Old Brinting-Press 79 

Old South '' 227 

Old State House in 1791 89 

Ohl Trinity Church 38(3 

Parliamentary Stamp Half-Penny ........ 81 

Parliamentary Stamp Shilling ........ ^\ 

Park Street Church 301 

Pillory, The 93 

Pine-Tree Shilling, 1052 211 

Province House 235 

Reiieal Obelisk 358 

llevere's Picture of Boston in 17C8 119 

Saint Paul's Church 310 

Sears Estate . 335 

Shirley, Governor, Arms 36 

Shirley, Governor, Portrait ......... 28 

Ship of the Time of the Pilgrims 180 



ILLUSTRATIONS. XVll 

Sign of Three Doves . = 147 

Six-Penny Piece 212 

Speaker's Desk and Wiuslow's Chair ....... 317 

St. Botolph's Church 6 

Stocks, The 1)2 

TeaCliest 282 

Three-Penny Piece 212 

Triangular Warehouse lol 

Triniountain 3 

Trinity Church iu 1872 3S7 

Trophy of Indian Weapons 1 

United States Bank 95 

Washington's Lodgings 42 

West Chm-ch 374 

Window of Brattle Street Chm-ch, with Ball 124 

Winthrop fording the River ......... 25 

Woollen Spinning- Wheel 302 




INTEODUCTION 



Myles Stanrlisli. — William Blackstone. — Shawmxit. — Settlement by Win- 
tlirop's Coniiiany. — Trimountain. — Boston. — Physical Features. — Area. 
^Settlement by Indians. — Character of first Buildings. — First Location 
of the Settlers. — Geographical Divisions. — Wood and Water. — Dress. — 
Manners and Customs. — Slavery. — Curious old Laws. — Government of 
the Town. — Allotment of Lands. — Intolerance of the Times. — The 
Pulpit a Means of Intelligence. — Accounts by various Writers. — Town 
Records. — General Growth and Progres.s. — Population. — Wards. — 
Paving the Streets. — Lighting the Streets. — Supply of Water. — En- 
largement of Boston. — Communication with Mainland. — Ferries. — 
Bridges. — Coaches, public and private. — Railways. 



AN" old Boston divine says, " It would be no unprofitable 
thing for you to pass over the several streets and call to 
mind who lived here so many years ago." We learn from the 
poet Gay how to prepare for our rambles thvough the town : — 

" How to walk clean by day, and safe by night ; 
How jostling crowds with prudence to decline, 
When to assert the wall and when resign." 

To see or not to see is the ]n"oblem presented to him who 
walks the streets of town or village. What to one is a heap 
of ruins or a blank wall may to another become the abode of 
tlie greatest of our ancestors or the key to a remote period. A 
mound of earth becomes a battlement ; a graveyard, a collection 
of scattered pages whereon we read the history of the times. 

Facts are proverbially dry, and we shall troul)le the reader 
as little as possible with musty records or tedious chronology ; 

1 A 



2 LANDMARKS OF DOSTOX. 

but before we set out to explore and reconstruct, a brief glance 
at the material i)rogress of Boston seems (lesiral)le. 

For a Inindred years Boston must be considered as little 
more than a sea-shore village, straggling up its thicket-grown 
hillsides. The Indian camp-tire, the axe of Blackstone, the 
mattock and spade of Wintlu'op's band, — each have tlieir story 
and their lesson. AVe shall pass each period in rapid review. 

Whether JNIyles Standish, " broad in the shoulders, deep- 
chested, with muscles and sinews of iron," was the tirst white 
man who stood on the beach of the [)eninsula is a matter merely 
of conjecture. Certain it is that in 1G21 this redoubtable 
Puritan soldier, with ten companions, sailed from Plymouth and 
landed somewhere in what is now Boston Bay. They crossed 
the bay, " which is very large, and hath at least fifty islands in 
it " ; and, after exploring the shores, decided " that better har- 
bors for shij)ping there cannot be than here." They landed, 
hobnobbed with Ubbatinewat, lord of the soil, feasted upon 
lobsters and boiled codHsh, and departetl, leaving no visible 
traces for us to pursue. This expedition was undertaken to 
secure the friendship of the " jNIassachusetts " Indians, — a 
result fully accomplished by Standish. 

The Indians told the Englishmen that two large rivers flowed 
into the bay, of Avhich, however, they saw but one. This cir- 
cumstance, indefinite as it is, justifies the opinion that Stan- 
dish's party landed .at Shawmut, the Intlian name for our i)enin- 
sula. If they had landed at Charlestown and ascended the 
heights there, as is supposed by some writers, they could hardly 
have escaped seeing both the ^lystic and Charles, while at 
Shawmut they would probably have seen only the latter river. 

In AVilliam Blackstone, E[)iscopalian, we have the first white 
settler of the peninsula. The date of his settlement has been 
sui)posed to have been about 1G2G, although there is nothing 
conclusive on tliis point known to the writer. Here he was, 
however, in 1G2S, when we find him taxe(l by tiie Plymouth 
Colony twidve shillings, on account of the expenses incurred 
by the colony in the capture of Thomas IMorton at Mount 
AV(dlaston."' 

* Belknap's Aiiiorican Bioptraphy. 



INTRODUCTION. 




TKIMOUNTAIN. 



The place where Blackstone Located his dwelling has given 
rise to much controversy, but can be fixed with some degree 
of certainty. Like a sen- 
sible man, Blackstone chose . .: ^^^ 

the sunny southwest slope j^^m^^S\ :^ 

of Beacon Hill for his res- /^"°'" ° "^ 

idence. Tlie records show •j.-a; 

that in April, 1633, "it is "^^"' 

agreed that Wilhani Black- 
stone shall have fifty acres 
set out for him near his I 
house in Boston to enjoy ^- 
forever." In the following 'L - 
year Blackstone sold the v 
town all of his allotment 
except six acres, on part of 
which his house then stood ; the sale also including all his right 
in and to the peninsida, — a right thus, in some form, recog- 
nized by Winthrop and his associates. The price paid for the 
whole peninsula of Boston was £ 30, assessed upon the inhabi- 
tants of the town, some paying six shillings, and some more, 
according to their circumstances and condition. 

The Charlcstown records locate Blackstone as " dwelling on 
the other side of Charles Biver, alone, to a place by the Indians 
called Shawmut,* where he only had a cottage at a })lacc not 
far ofl" the place called Blackstone's Point"; this is also con- 
firmed by Edward Johnson in 1630, in his "Wonder Work- 
ing Providence." After the purchase by the town of Black- 
stone's forty-four acres, they laid out the " training field, which 
was ever since used for that purpose and the feeding of cattle." 
This was the origin of Boston Common. Two landmarks ex- 
isted to fix the site of Blackstone's house, namely, tlie ondiard 
planted by him, — the first in NeAV England, — and his spring. 
The orchard is represented on the early maps ; is mentioned in 
1765 as still bearing fruit ; and is named in the deeds of sub- 

* Perhaps an ahhreviation of " Mushaiiwonink," as given in Grindal Rawson's 
" Confessions of Faitli," printed in 1G99. Probably meaning unclaimed land. 



4 LANDMARKS OF 150ST0N. 

sequent possessors. The spriiin', Avliicli must have deteruiineil 
to some extent tlie location ol' the house, was probably near the 
junction of Deacon Street Avitli Cliarles, alt])ou,nh others existed 
in the neii^liborhoiMl. The six acres wliicli ]\lr. iJlackstone re- 
servetl have been traci'd tiirougli JJicliard lV[)ys, an oriL;inal pos- 
sessor by a sulliciently clear connection, — .sup[)lied where broken 
by deiiositions, — to the oMount YeriKtn ])roprietoi's. Copley, the 
celebrated ])ainter, was once an owner of IJlackstone's six acres, 
which wt're Ijoundeil by tlie (Joiujuon on the south and the 
river on the west. 

IJlackstone was as sinujular a character as can be found in 
the annals of IJoston. lie is supposed to have come over with 
liobert (Joru'es in 1G23. ]!ut wliat induced him to withdraw 
to such a distance from tlie settlements ivmains a mystery. IJy 
a cdiiiciih'uce, his namesake, Sir AVilliain JHackstont!, the ^reat 
ciimmcntatoi' of the laws of England, wrote at a later period the 
following lines : — 

"As liy some tyrant's stern command, 
A wretch for.salces his native hind, 
In i'oreign elimes condenineil to loaiii, 
An endk'ss exile tVoni his lioiiie." 

The nature of lilackstone's claim to th(^ p(>ninsula is doubt- 
ful, though we have seen it recognized l)y AVinthrop's com- 
])any. ]\Iatlier grumblingly alliules to it thus in his INIagnalia : 
" Therc^ were also some godly l'"]iisc(ipalians ; among wIk.ihi has 
been reckoned Mr. JJlacksfdiie ; wlio, by happening to sleep 
iirst in an old li(iv(d upon a point nl' land there, laid claim to 
all the ground wliereujxin tliere now stands the ^Metrdjiolis of 
the whole i'jiglish America, until the inhabitants gave him 
satisfaction." This concedes only a s( platter's title to Ulack- 
stone. He seems to have had a kind heart, capable of feeling 
for the sulferings of his iellow-men, i'or, hearing of the vicissi- 
tudes of AVinthroii's iid'ant settlement at ( 'hai'lestown by disease 
and death, he invites them over to Shawmut in ]().")(). AVater, 
the great desideratum of a settlement, was very scarce at 
Cliarlestown, and liLickstone "came and ac(|uaiiited the (Jov- 
ernor of an excellent spring there, withal inviting him and 



INTKODUCTIOX. 5 

solicitiiij,^ liim tliitlier." If sochision was Dlackstonc's object, 
it gave way to liis interest in the welfare of his fellow-colonists. 

Upon Blackstone's advice the Charlestown settlers acted, 
and many removed to Shawmnt by the end of August, 1030. 
In tlie first boat-load that went over was Anne Pollard, wlio 
lived to be nearly, if not quite, one hundred and live y(;ars 
old. She herself related, wlien more tlian oni; liundred years 
of age, that she " came over in one of the lirst ships that 
arrived in Charlestown ; that in a day or two after her arrival, 
on account of the Avater there being bad, a number of the young 
people, including herself, took tlie ship's boat to cross over to 
Doston ; that as the boat drew n[} towards tlie shore, she (being 
then a romping girl) declared she would be the lirst to land, 
and accordingly, before any one, jumi)ed from the bow of the 
boat on to the beach." According to this statement, whicli is 
based upon good authority, Anne Pollard was the lirst white 
female that trod upon the soil of Boston. Hudson's Point, now 
the head of Charlestown- bridge, but formerly the site of the 
old ferry, was probably the place where Anne first left the 
impress of her foot. Iler portrait, at the age of one hundred 
antl three years, is in the possession of the IMassachusetts His- 
torical Society, and her deposition, at the age of eighty-nine 
years, was used to substantiate the location of Blackstone's 
liouse. In it she says that ]\Ir. Blackstone, after his removal 
from Boston, freipiently resorted to her husband's house, and 
that she never heard any controversy about the land, between 
her husband, Pepys, or Blackstone, but that it Avas always 
re[)uted to lielong to the latter. 

Blackstone, in 1G34, removed to Pehoboth, not liking, Ave 
may conclude, the close proximity of his Puritan neighbors, of 
Avhoiii lie is reported to have said, tliat ]w left England because 
of Ids dislike to the Lords Bisho})s, Init now he Avould not be 
under tlie Lords Brethren. 

In lGo9 Blackstone Avas married to IMary StcA'enson of 
Boston, AvidoAV, by Governor Endicott. He died in 107"), a short 
time before the breaking out of King I'hilip's AVar, during whirh 
his plantation Avas ravaged by the Indians, and his dwelling 



LAXDMAKKS OF BOSTOX. 



destroyed, Avith liis papers and books, ■ — a circumstance tliat lias 
prevented, })er]iaps, tlie veil being lifted that shrouds his early 
histoiy. It is said no trace of his grave exists; but he left 
his name to a noble river, and the city which he founded per- 
petuates it by a })ublic sc^uare and street. 

The settlers at Charlestown calle<l Shawmut Trimountain, not, 
says Sliaw, on account of the three princi])al hills, — subse- 
ipiently Coi)[)'s, Beacon, and Fort, — but from the three peaks of 
Eeacou Hill, which was then considered quite a high mountain, 
and is so spoken of by AVood, one of the early writers about 
Boston ; the reader will know that Beacon and its two outlying 
spurs of Cotton (Pemberton) and Mt. Vernon ai'c meant. 

On the 7th of Sei)tember, 1G30 (old style), at a court 
held in Charlestown, it was ordered that Trimountain be called 

Boston. j\Iany of the set- 
tlers had already taken up 
their residence there, and 
" thither the frame of the 
governor's house M'as car- 
ried, and people began to 
build their houses against 
winter." Clinging to the 
old associations of their 
native land, the settlers 
named their new home for 
old Boston in Lincolnshire, 
England, whence a num- 
ber of members of the com- 
pany had emigratcnl. The 
name itself owes its origin 
to Botolph, a })ious old 
Saxon of the seventh cen- 
tury, afterwards canonized 
as the tutelar saint of mar- 
iners, and shows an iiigcmiity of corruption for which England 
is famed. Ilecipnical courtesies have been exchanged between 
English Boston and her namesake. The former jiresented lier 




ST. IKJKJM'U .' 



bOSlclN, KNC.LANU. 



INTRODUCTION. 7 

cliartei' in a fmiiie of tin; wood of old Saint Botolph's churcli, 
"vvliich hangs in our City Ilall, while Edward Everett, in the 
name of the descendants and athiiirers of John Cotton, gave 
S 2,000 for the restoration of a cliapel in 8t. Botolph's, and the 
erection therein of a luoniuncnt to the memory of tliat mncli 
venerated divine, who had been vicar of St. Botolph's and 
afterwards minister of the First Church of Christ in Boston, 
Xew England. 

Boston had three striking topographical features. First, its 
jieninsular character, united by a narrow isthmus to the main 
land ; next, its three hills, of which the most westerly (Beacon) 
Avas the highest, all washed at their base l)y the sea ; and lastly, 
corresponding to her hills, were three coves, of which the most 
easterly, enclosed by the headlands of Copp's and Fort Hill, 
became the Town Cove and Dock. ( )f the other coves, the one 
lying to the south of the Town Cove was eml)raced between 
the point of land near the foot of South Street, formerly known 
as Windmill Point, and the head of the bridge to St)uth Boston ; 
this bight of water was the South Cove. A third inlet on the 
northwest of the peninsula, lying between the two points of 
land from which now extend bridges to Charlestown and East 
Cambridge, became subsequently the INIill Pond, by the build- 
ing of a causeway on substantially the present line of Causeway 
Street. Only the most salient features are here given ; other 
interesting peculiarities will be alluded to in their places. 

At high tides the sea swept across the narrow neck, and 
there is every reason to believe also covered the low ground now 
traversed by Blackstone Street. This would make, for the time 
being, two islands of Boston. The early names given to the 
streets on the water front described the sea margin, as Fore 
(North) Beach, and Back (now Salem) Streets. 

In process of time these distinctive characteristics have all 
changed. Boston fan no longer be called a jieninsiUa ; one of 
its summits, Fort Hill, has to-day no existence, while the others 
have been so shorn of their proportions and altitude as to pre- 
sent a very different view from any (j[uarter of approach ; as for 
the three coves, they have been converted into teri-a firma. 



8 



LANDMARKS OF BOSTON. 



TliG area of original Eostnn has been variously ostiiuated. 
r>y Shaw, at 700 acres ; Dr. jNlorse, tlie geographer, placed it in 
ISOO at 700 acres, admitting tliat some accounts hx it as high 
as 1,000 acres, Avhile Dr. tSliurtlell' says less than 1,000 acres. 

There is good authoi'ity, however, I'or computing the original 
peni]isula at not more than G25 acres of hrm ground. To 
this has been added, by the hlling of the ]\Iill Pond, .lO acres ; 
the South Cove, 75 acres (up to \So7) ; and by the hlling of the 
Town Cove or Dock, and the building of new streets on the 
water front, enough had been reclaimed l)y 1852 to amount to 
600 acres, — nearly the original area. Since that time the 
Back Bay improA'emcnt, whicli covers GSO acres, and Atlantic 
Avenue, which follows the old Barricado line, have added as 
much more to the ancient territory, so that we may safely 
consider her original limits treltled, without reference to what 
has been acquired by annexation. 

At the time of the English settlement hostilities existed be- 
t\\tLn the Massachusetts and the eistcm Jndiuis; tlie natives,. 

A\h(j seldom neg- 
kttcd to })r(>vide 
1 II retreat in case 
I t defeat, chose 
1 ither to locate 
lh(ir villages far- 
ih( r inland, at 
M) stic and else- 
w here. 

There is evi- 
d( nee, however, 
tint Shawmut was 
iMi\N ui u \M ( ither inhal)ited l)y 

the Tnilians at a very enrly period, or used as a place of sepul- 
ture by them. Dr. j\lather related that three hundrcil skidl- 
bones had been dug up on Cotton (Pend)erton) Hill when he 
was a youth, and tradition long ascribed to this locality a sort 
of Golgotha. To support this view there was found in April 
1733, says the Xew England Journal, a number of skulls and 




INTUODUGTIOX. \) 

larger liuniaii l)ones Ly workiiien digging in a garden near Dr. 
Cooper's liouse on Cotton Hill. These remains were considered, 
at the time, to be those of the natives. Boston has heen 
tlioronghly excavated without finding any further material to 
conlirm this helicf. 

The character of the first buildings was extremely rude. 
They were of wood, witli thatched roofs, and chimneys Ituilt 
of pieces of wood placed crosswise, the interstices and outside 
covered with clay. Such was the economy of the times, that 
Governor Winthrop reproved his deputy, in 16.32, "that he 
did not well to bestow so much cost about wainscotting and 
adorning his house in the beginning of a plantation, both in 
regard of tlie public cliarges, and for example." The answer 
was, that it was for the warmth of his house, and the charge 
was little, being but clapboards nailed to the walls in the form 
of wainscot."' 

It is comiiaratively recent that Boston began to be a city of 
brick and stone. A few solidly built structures were scattered 
here and there over a wide area ; but the mass were of wood, in 
spite of some attempts made by the town to induce a safer and 
more durable style of architecture. A lady, entering Boston in 
1795, remarks : "The ranges of wooden l)uildings all situated 
Avith one end towards the street, and the luimerous chaises Ave 
met, drawn by one horse, the driver being placed on a hnv seat 
in front, appeared to me very singular." Another writer ob- 
serves of the town in 1805 : "The houses were most of tli( ni 
Avood, seldom enlivened by paint, and closely resembling the old- 
fashioned, darkdookiug edifices still to be seen iji Newport, R. I." 
At this time tliere Avas l)ut one brick house in the Avhole of 
Tremont Street, and it Avas not until 1793 that the first block 
of brick buihlings Avas erected in Avhat is noAV Franklin Stieet. 
In 1803 the inflammable character of the town Avas thus 
described : — 

" A pyre of shapeless stmctures crowds the spot, 

Where taste, and all Init ehea]>iiess is forgot. 

One little spark the funeral jiile may fire, 

And Boston, Llazing, see itself expire." 

* Winthrop's Journal, p. 88. 



10 LANDMARKS OF BOSTON. 

AVinthrop's company located cliiefly witliiii the space com- 
pvised between what are now ]\Iilk, Eromtield, Treniont, and 
Jlanover Streets and tlie Avater. Pemberton Hill was also a 
favorite locality, as we shall have occasion to note. The North 
End, by removals and accessions, soon became also settled ; 
that portion of the town lying north of Union Street being 
thus designated, while all south of that boundary was called 
the South End. A third geographical division, eniliracing tlie 
district lying to the Avest and north of Beacon Hill, and west 
and south of the jNIill Pond, was known as New Boston, and 
also as AVest Boston, and linally as the West End. These 
names have been retained, but the boundaries of all but the 
North I'Jid have been considered movable, and would be difli- 
cult to follow. 

The first settlers found Boston thinly wooded, whatever its 
original condition may have been. The timl)er lay maiidy 
along the Neck, -with clumps of trees here anil there. The great 
elm on the Common is doubtless one of native growth, and be- 
fore the Bevolution of 1776 there was another almost erpially 
large near the corner of what is now AVest and Tremont Streets. 
Traditions exist of the Indians having phuited on the })enin- 
vsula, clearing away the Avood, as is their custom, by burning. 
There are old houses now standing at tlie North End, the tim- 
bers of which, some of them a foot square, are said to have been 
cut near Copp's Hill. 

AVater was abundant and good. Besides the spring or 
Rltrings near Blackstone's house, mention is made in tlie early 
records of the "great spring" in what is now S[iring Lane. 
Tlie latter was filled \\\), Tint people now living have seen it 
bubliling out of the ground after heavy spring rains. 0[>inions 
are divided as to whicli spring Blackstone had reference, Avhcn 
he invited the thirsty ("liarlestown company to Shawmut, but 
the fict of Governor AVinthrop having located by the side of 
the " great spring," and Isaac Johnson in the immediate vicin- 
ity, are signilicant. (Jtlier springs existed, or were found in 
course of tinu^ on tlie Neck and elsewhere. 

The settlement of Boston opens in the reign of Charles the 



IXTKODL'CTION. 



11 



First, and the dress, as well as the manners and customs of the 
l)eoplo bear the impress of that time, with the distinction, that 
the rehgious sentiments of the settlers entered hirgely into hotli 
(piestions. The sliort ck)ak, doublet, and silk stockings were 
worn l)y people of condition, but the colors were subdued and 
sober, and the rapier, which King Charles's gallants were so 
ready to draw, was not much worn abroad, except on state 
occasions. Some, like Winthroj), wore the stilf, plaited ruff, 
containing a furlong of linen, and making the modern beholder 
sympathize with the pillory tlie unfor- 
tunate head is jjlaced in, while others 
wore the broad falling collar in which 
we ahvaj's see the great Protector. High- 
crowned felt hats were worn out of doors, 
while the velvet skull-cap was the favor- 
ite headdress within. 

Myles Standish, whom we single out 
as a type of the Puritan soldier of those 
days, is described by Longfellow as " clad 
in doubhit and hose, with boots of Cor- 
dovan leather " ; glancing complacently -; 
at his arms on the wall, " cutlass and ^ 
corslet of steel, and his trusty sword of v\^^'.-;j,;_; 
Damascus," Avith its curved point and cavalier. 

Arabic inscription. The manner of wearing the hair became 
very early an apple of discord. Tliose of the straitest sect, and 
it may be of the straightest hair, cut their locks in the short 
fashion of the roundheads ; while others, to whom nature had, 
perhaps, l)een more lavish in this respect, wore their hair long. 
The wearing of veils by ladies when abroad Avas the subject 
of a crusade by Rev. John Cotton, though championed by 
Endicott. 

In 1750 cocked-hats, wigs, and red cloaks were usually 
worn by gentlemen. Except among military men, boots were 
randy seen. In winter, round coats were worn, made stiff with 
buckram, and coming down to the knees in front. Boys wore 
wigs and cocked-hats until about 1790. Powder was worn by 
gentlemen until after 1800. 




12 LANDMAltKS OF BOSTON. 

Tlie toilets of ladies were elaborate, especially the liaiv, which 
was arranged on crape cushions so as to stand up hiyii. Some- 
times ladies were dresscul the day he tore a party, and slejit in 
easy-chairs to keep their hair in condition. IIoups were indis- 
pensal)le in full dress until after 17U0. Tlie usual dimier hour 
was two o'clock. Drinking punch in the forenoon, in pulJic 
liouses, was the common practice. AVine was little used, con- 
vivial parties drinking })unch or toddy. 

The bearing of tlie townspco[ile in public was grave and 
austere. How could it be otherwise under the ojieration of 
siich ordinances as the following. " Xo strangers were iiermitted 
to live within the town without giving l)onds to save the town 
harmless from all damage and charge for entertaining them." 
" For galloping through the streets, except upon days of mili- 
tary exercise or any extraordinary case retpiire," was two 
shillings fine. Football Avas .prohibited in the streets. "No 
person shall take any tobacco iiublicly. Tinder penalty of one 
shilling." "For entertaining foreigners," or receiving "in- 
mates, servants, or journeymen coming for help in physic or 
surgery, without leave of the selectmen," was twenty shillings 
fine a week. The selectmen had authority, under the colony, 
to order parents to bind their children as apprentices, or put 
tliem out to service, and, if they refused, the town took the 
children from tlie charge of the i)arents. 

Sobriety was strictly inculcated, though the sale of li(]Uors 
was licensed. It is on record that, September 15, 1041, there 
Avas a training of twelve hundred men at lioston for two days, 
but no one drunk, nor an oath sworn. Officers were appninted, 
Avith long Avnnds, to correct the inattentive or slumbering at 
churcli. To be absent from meeting Avas criminal, Avhile to 
speak ill of the minister AA'as to incur scA^ere punishment. An 
instance is mentioned of a man being fined for kissing his wife 
in his oAvn grounds ; and do not the folloAving instructions to 
the watch smack strongly of Doglierry's famous charge? The 
number being eight, they are "to Avalk two by tAvo together; 
a youth joined Avith an older and more sol>er person." "If 
after ten o'clock they see lights, to impure if there be Avarrant- 



INTIIODUCTIOX. 13 

al)le cause ; and if tlioy liear any noise or disorder, wisely to 
demand the rt'ason ; if they are dancing and singing vainly, to 
admonish them to cease ; if they do not discontinue, after 
moderate admonition, then the constable to take their names 
and acquaint the authorities there-with." "If tliey lind young 
men and maidens, not of known lidelity, walking after ten 
o'clock, modestly to demand the cause ; and if they appear 
ill-minded, to watch them liarrowly, command them to go to 
their lodgings, and if they refuse, then to secure them till 
morning." 

Xegro slavery appears in Boston as early as 1G3(S, when at 
least three were held by INIaverick on JXoddle's Island. In 
this year the ship Desire brought negroes here from the West 
Indies. In 1G80, according to Judge Sewall, there were not 
above two hundred African slaves in the colony. An effort 
is on record in 1702 to put a stop to negroes being slaves, 
and to encourage the use of Avhite servants, the representa- 
tives of the toAvn being instructed to this purpose. Slavery 
seems, however, to have steadily increased in the colony, the 
traffic proving profital)le, until at length it Avas as common to 
see negroes offered for sale in the public prints, as it ever was 
in the Southern colonies. In 1767 the town again moved, 
through its representatives for the abolition of slavery, to no 
effect, A Tory writer asserts that there Avere at this time 
two thousand slaves in Boston. During the troubles of 17G8 
the British officers were charged with inciting the slaves to 
insurrection, and blacks were held in servitude until after tlie 
devolution. 

But this was not all. It is but little known tliat Avhito 
slavery was tolerated in the colony, and that the miserable 
dependents of feudal power Avere sold into servitude in England 
and transported to this country. Prisoners of A\'ar Avere thus 
disposed of under the great CromAvell, some of the captives of 
Dunbar having been shijiped OA'er seas to America. A ship- 
load of Scotch prisoners AA'as consigned 1G51 to Thomas Kem- 
ble of CharlestoAvn, the same AAdio Avas afterwards resident of 
Boston. They Avere generally sold for a specific term of scr- 



14 LAND.MAKKS OF BOSTON. 

vice, and iisorl cliiony as farm lalxn-evs. ]\Iany were sent to 
!Xortli Carolina, and indeed but lew of the colonies were with- 
out tlieni. 

Among tlic early customs was that of the Avatchmen crying 
the time of night and giving an account of the weather as they 
went their rounds, a jiractice which prevailed for a hundred 
years. The British sentinels later gave the cry of " All 's well ! " 
as they paced their heats. The ringing of the nine-o'clock hell 
was lirst ordered in 1G49. Tlie watchman's rattle was intro- 
duced ahout the time r>ost(5n hecame a city. 

Tiio government of the town was vested in nine selectmen, 
and is first found on the records, Xovemher, 1G43 ; hut not until 
iS'ovemher 29, 1G45, is the official statement reconled that John 
WintJirop and nine others were chosen selectmen. This con- 
tinued to he the form of government until the city was incor- 
porated, Fehurary 23, 1822. The first city goveriniient was 
organized on the first of ]\Iay following, and John Phillips was 
the first, Josiah Quincy the second, and Harrison Gray Otis 
the third mayor. Steps Avere taken as early as 1708 to ])etition 
the riencral Court to have the town i]:cor})orated into a city or 
horougli, and again in 1784, but without success. 

In 1632 the Colonial legislature declared it to he " the fittest 
place for public meetings of any place in the Bay," since which 
time it has remained the capital of jNIassachusetts. Boston at 
first included within its government the islands of the harbor, — 
Muddy Iviver (Brookliue), AVinnisimet (Chelsea), IMount AVol- 
laston (Braintree), Bandolph, and (^hiincy. She is now striving 
to recover ])ortions of her ancient territory. 

For a long time the allotment of lands was the principal 
business of the town officers. In the limits of the ])eninsula 
the rule was, " two acres to plant on, and for every able youth 
one acre within the neck and Noddle's Island " (East Boston), 
In 1G35 it was o,greeil, "no new allotments shovdd be granted 
unto any new-comer, but such as may be likely to be received 
members of the congregation." The town r(>gulated the price 
of cattle, commodities, victuals, and the wages of laborers, and 
none other were to be "iven or taken. 



INTRODUCTION. 15 

The spirit of intolerance which the fatliers of Boston exhib- 
ited towards tlie Quakers, Anabaptists, Episcopalians, and 
otlier secjts illustrates their view of religious liberty. "Well 
did Drydcn say : — 

" Of all the tjTaiuiius oti human kiml, 
The worst is tliat which persecutes tlic mind ; 
Let us but weigh at what oti'euce we strike, 
'T is but because we cannot think alike ; 
In punishing of this we overthrow 
The laws of nations, and of nature too." 

It was an offence to harbor a Quaker ; to attend a Quaker 
meeting was a fine of ten shillings, to preach, £ 5. When the 
Baptists first attempted to enter their meeting-house in Still- 
man Street, they found the doors nailed up, and when they 
proceeded to Avorship in the open air, they were arrested and 
imprisoned. No one could be fjund to sell land for an Episco- 
pal church, nor could they find a place to hold services in until 
Andros obtained the Old South for them by force. The crimi- 
nal laAV decreed banishment to such as l)roached or maintained 
" damnable heresies," by which was meant such as did not 
agree Avith the views of the congregation. 

The excessive seventy of tlie following deserves notice. 
" Any one denying the Scripture to be the word of God should 
pay not exceeding £ 50 to be severely whipped, not exceeding 
forty strokes, unless he publicly recants, in which case he shall 
not pay above =£10, or be whipped in case he pay not the fine." 
The repetition of this offence was to be punished by banisli- 
ment or death, as the court might determine. 'T is death 
for any chiM of sound understanding to curse or strike his 
parents, unless in his own defence." 

There is a grim humor in the following decisions. In 1G40 
one Edward Palmer, for asking an excessive price for a pair of 
stocks, which he was hired to frame, had the privilege of sit- 
ting an hour in them himself. " Captain Stone is sentenced 
to pay £ 100, and prohibited coming within the patent with- 
out the governor's leave, upon pain of death, for calling jMr. 
Ludlow (a magistrate) a ^^ Justass.'' We infer the punishment 
must have been inflicted more for the joke than the offence. 



16 LAND:\rAi;KS of bostox. 

" Catherine, A\dfe of William Cornish, was found suspicious of in- 
continency, and seriously admonished to take heed." " Sergeant 
I'crkins ordered to carry forty turfs to the fort for being drunk." 
According to Ncal, the ])riucipal festival ilays were that of 
the annual election of magistrates at Boston, and Commence- 
ment at Camltridge. Ikisiness was then laid aside, and the 
l)L',()plc Avere as cheerful among their friends and neighbors as 
the English are at Christmas. 

" They have a greater veucratiou for the evening of Saturday than 
for tliat (if the Lord's Day itself ; so tliat all business is laid aside 
liy suiisL't or six o'clock on Saturday night. The Sabliath itself is 
kept with great strictness ; nobody being to be seen in the streets ' 
in time of Divine serAace, except the constables, who are appointed 
to search all public houses ; but in the evening they allow them- 
selves great liberty and freedom." 

This custom has prevailed up to a comparatively late period. 

In those days the pulpit took the lend in matters temporal 
as well as of theology. Public questions were discussed in 
the pidpit, and news from a distance, of moment to the col- 
ony, was disseminated through it; the lirst newspaper was not 
attemj)ted in Ijoston until 1690, and then only a single 
nundjer was pulilished. The whole field Avas open to the 
preacher, who might either confnie himself to doctrinal poirds 
or ju'each a crusade against the savages. Tlie attire of the 
ladies, the fashion of the hair, the drinking of healths, after- 
Avards abolished by law, were all Avithin the jurisdiction of 
the teacher of the people ; the constituted authorities might 
make the laws, but the minister expounded them. The offici:d 
proclamations Avere then, as noAV, affixed to the meeting-house 
door, Avhich thus stood to the community as a vehicle of public 
intelligence. 

j\Iany intelligent travellers, both English and French, have 
recordeil thtdr impressions of ]>iistola. Wood, Avho is accounted 
the earliest of these Avriters, says : — ■ 

"Tliis liaibor is made l)v a great company of islands, Avhose high 
clili's shoulder ont the hoisterous seas ; yet may easily deceive any 
unskillul pilot, presenting many fiir openings and broad sounds 



IXTKODUCTION. 17 

Avliicli aflfonl too sliallow water for sliips, tlioui^h naviLfable lor i)nats 
and piiiiiacL'.s. It is a sale and pleasant liailmr within, liaviiiL^ l)Ut 
one conmion and sale entrance, and that not very broad, there 
scarce being room for three ships to come in board and board at a 
time ; bnt beuig once in, there is room lor the anchorage of live 
hundred ships." 

" Boston is two miles N. E. of Roxbury. His situation is very 
pheasant, being a peninsula hemmed in on the south side by the 
bay of Roxbury, and on the north side with Charles River, the 
marshes on the back side being not half a quarter of a mile over ; 
so that a little fencing will secure their cattle from the wolves ; it 
being a neck, and bare of wood, they are not troubled with these 
great annoyances, wolves, rattlesnakes, and moscjuitoes. This neck 
of land is. not above four miles in compass, in form almost square, 
having on the south side a great broad hill, whereon is planted a fort 
wluch can command any ship as she sails into the harbor.* On the 
north side is another hill equal in bigness, whereon stands a wind- 
mill.t To the northwest is a high mountain, with three little rising 
hills on the top of it, Avherefore it is called the Tramount. J This town, 
although it be neither the greatest nor the richest, yet is the most 
noted and frequented, being the centre of the plantations where the 
monthly courts are kept." 

John Jossleyn arrived at Boston July, 1GG3. He says : — 

" It is in longitude 315 degrees, and 42 degrees 30 minutes of 
north latitude. The buildings are handsome, joining one to the 
other as in London, with many large streets, most of them paved 
with pebble ; in the high street, toward the Common, there are fair 
buildings, some of stone ; the town is not divided into parishes, yet 
they have three fair meeting-houses." 

Edward Johnson says : — - 

" The form of this town is like a heart, naturally situated for forti- 
fications, having two hills on the frontier part thereof next the sea, 
the one well fortified on the superficies thereof, with store of great 
artillery well moimted. The other hath a very strong battery built 
of whole timber, and filled with earth ; lietwixt these two strong 
arms lies a cove or ba}", on which the chief part of this town is 
built, overtopped with a third hill ; all tliese, like overtopping 
towers, keep a constant watch to see the approach of foreign 
dangers, being furnished with a beacon and loud babbling guns to 

* Fort Hill. + Copp's Hill. Beacon Hill. 



18 LANDMAUKS UF BOSTON. 

give notice to nil the sister towns. The chief edifice of this city-like 
town is crowded on the sea-hanks, and wharfed out with great lal)or 
and cost ; tlie huildings beautiful and large, some fairly set forth 
with lirick, tile, stone, and slate, and orderly placed with seemly 
streets, whose continual enlargement presage th some sumptuous city." 

]\I. I'Abbe Robin, who accompanied the army of Count Eo- 
chambeau, published a sniall work in 17S1, in which a good 
description of Boston is given. Says M. I'Abbe : — 

" Tlie high, regular huildings, intermingled with steeples, appeared 
to us more like a long-established town of the Continent than a 
recent colony. A fine mole, or pier, projects into the harbor about 
two thousand feet, and shops and warehouses line its whole length. 
It communicates at light angles with the prmcipal street of the 
town, which is long and wide, curving round towards the water ; 
on this street are many fine houses of two and three stories. The 
appearance of the buildmgs seems strange to European eyes ; being 
built entirely of wood, they have not the dull and heavy appear- 
ance wliich belongs to those of our continental cities ; they are regu- 
lar and well-lighted, with frames well joined, and the outside cov- 
ered with slight, thiidy planed boards, overlapping each other some- 
what like the tiles upon our roofs. The exterior is painted generally 
.of a grayish color, which gives an agreeable aspect to the view." 

M. rAljljc states that codHsh was the princijial article of 
commerce with the Bostonians ; that they preferred Maderia, 
Malaga, or Oporto to French wines, but their ordinary beverage 
was rum, distilled from molasses. Some credit attaches to this 
statement, when we remember that Boston had half a dozen 
still-houses in 1722, and a score wdien the Al)be was writing. 
" Piety," continues the acute Frenchman, " is not the only 
motive which brings a crowd of ladies into their church. 
Tliey show^ themselves there clothed in silk, and sometimes 
dcckeil with su]-»erb feathers. Their hair is r;rised upon sup- 
ports, in imitatitui of those worn by the French ladies some 
years since. Tliey have less grace, less freedom, than the 
Frencli ladies, but more dignity." 

" Tlifir slioou of veh'et, aii<l tlieir iimilis ! 
In kirk they are not content of stuilis, 
TIk sermon wljen they sit to lieir, 
Bnt carries cuslieons like vain fulls ; 
And all lor newfanj'leness of ceir." 



INTRODUCTION. 19 

The A.bbe, alluding to the strict observance of the Sabbath, 
naively says : " A countryman of mine, lodging at the same 
inn with me, took it into his head one Sunday to play a little 
upon his flute ; but the neighborhood became so incensed that 
our landlord was obliged to acquaint him of their uneasiness." 
Another French writer remarktfd of Newport, which he thouglit 
Boston resembled, " This is the only place I ever visited where 
they build old houses." JNI. le Compte Segur and the Mar- 
quis Chastellux have written about Boston, but there is little 
to add to what is already given. 

The first volume of the Town Records begins September, 
1634, and the first entries are said to be in the handwriting of 
Governor Wintlirop. An unknown number of leaves liave lx>en 
torn out or destroyed, and, as the first business of the town 
was the allotment of land to the inhabitants, the loss is ir- 
reparable, and has proved such to those who have had occasion 
to trace the titles of property. The city authorities should see 
that this volume, the sole repository of many facts in the early 
history of Boston, should be printed at once, and thus pre- 
served from destruction. Several later volumes of the records 
are missing, and for many years, while William Cooper was 
Town Clerk, no record exists of the births or deaths. A man- 
uscript volume called the " Book of Possessions," is in the 
City Clerk's office, compiled, it is thought, as early as 1634, by 
order of the General Court. There are two hundred and forty- 
five names in this " Doomsday Book," as it has been termed, 
but all of them were not original settlers. 

The general growth and progress of the New England 
metropolis has been steady and remarkable. The early settlers 
having built wholly of wood, were not long exempt from de- 
structiV'C fires. In 1654 occurred what was known as "the 
great fire," but its locality is not given. This was succeeded 
by another in 1676, at the North End, which consumed forty- 
five dwellings, the North Church, and several warehouses, 
witliin the space enclosed by Bichmond, Hanover, and (dark 
Streets. After this fire a fire-engine was imported from Eng- 
land, but another great fire in 1678, near the Town Dock, 



20 LANDMARKS OF BOSTON. 

destroyed eiglity dwelling-liousL'S and seventy wareliouses, en- 
tailing a loss of £ 200,000. 

AV'itli extraordinary energy these losses were repaired, and 
tlie townspeople, admonished hy their disasters, built tlieir 
lionses witli more regard to safety, — many building of stone 
and brick, — while more efficient means were obtaijied for con- 
trolling the devouring element. Tlie town Avas divided into 
four (luarters, patroled by a watch detailed from the foot-com- 
l)anies. Six hand-engines, four barrels of powder, and two 
crooks were assigned each quarter. This appears to have been 
the beginning of a hre department. 

Tlie lirst iire-engine made in Boston was built by David 
Wheeler, a blacksmith in Newbury, now Washington Street. 
It was tried at a lire August 21, 17G5, and found to perform 
extremely well. 

The data from Avhich to estimate the popidation of the town 
in the lirst decade of its settlement is very meagre. In 1G3D 
the Bay mustered a thousand soldiers in Boston, but they 
A\'ere of course drawn from all the towns. For the first seventy 
years after its settlement Boston did not proliably contain over 
seven thousand people. In 1717 it was reckoned at only 
twelve thousand. A hundred years after the settlement it con- 
tained fifteen thousaii<l, with seventeen hundred dwellings; in 
1752 there were seventeen thousand five hundred, — a decrease 
of five hundred in the; y)revi()us ten years, accounted for by 
the wars Avith the Indians and French, in which Boston sus- 
tained severe losses. In 17G5 the number of people had 
fallen below sixteen thousand, with sixteen hundred and 
seventy-six houses. During the siege in 1775-70 the town 
was nearly depopulated, but few remaining Avho couM get 
away. An ennuKa'ation made in July, 1775, before the last 
permission was given to leave the town, showed only six thou- 
sand five hundred and seventy-three inhabitants, the troops 
Avith their women and children numbering thirteen thousand 
six hundred. At the peace of 178-3 there Avcre only about 
twelve thousand inhabitants. By the first census of 1791 the 
number of people Avas a little over eighteen thousand, with 
tAvo thousand three hundred and seventy-six houses. 



INTRODUCTION. 21 

From this pcniod the increase lias hcon steady ami rapid. 
In 1800 there -were twenty-five thousand ; 1820, forty-three 
thousand; 1840, eighty-five thousand; 18G0, one hundred and 
seventy-seven thousand, and in 1870, the latest census, two 
hundred and fifty thousand. 

The division of the town into eight wards is mentioned as 
early as the great fire oflG78-79. In 1715 these wards were 
named iS^orth, Fleet, Bridge, Creek, King's, Change, Pond, and 
South. In 1735 the niuuber of wards was increased to twelve, 
corresponding with the number of companies in the Boston 
regiment, one of which was attached to each '\\-ard fin* ser\-ice 
at fires. Besides the military tiiere was also a civil division, 
an overseer of the poor, a fireward, a constable, and a scavenger, 
belonging to each ward. In 1792 the number of military 
wards was nine, the regiment having been reduced to that luuu- 
ber of companies ; the civil division continued to be twelve. 
The first four of these wards, and the greater part of the fifth, 
were in the Xorth End ; the seventh was at the West End ; 
while the rest, with a part of the hfth, were in the South End, 
as it was then bounded. The present number is sixteen, just 
doidile the original number. 

The paving of the public thoroughfares seems to have begun 
at a A'ery early period. Jossleyn, descriljing Boston in 1GG3, 
says most of the streets " are paved with pebble," meaning the 
smooth round stones from the beach. It was not the practice 
at first to pave the whole wddtli of a street, but only a strip in 
the middle ; the Neck was so paved. In the same manner the 
siilewalks were paved with cobble-stones, bricks, or flags, of 
only width enough for a single passenger ; in some instances, 
where flag-stones were used, the remaining space was hlled with 
cobble-stones. It is probable that the first paving Avas done in 
a fragmentary way liefore 1700, but in 1703-04 the town voted 
.£100 for this purpose, "as the selectmen shall judge most 
needful, having particular regard to the highAvay nigh old i\Irs. 
Stoddard's house." An order for paving 42 rods of Orange 
Street Avas made in 1715. From this time sums were regu- 
larly voted, and the foundation laid for the most cleanly city in 
America. 



22 LANDMARKS OF BOSTOISr. 

As to sidewalks, a lady wlio came to Boston in 1795 from 
New York, and was much struck with the cjuaint appearance 
of the town, writes : — 

"There were no hrick sidewalks, except in a part of the I\Iain 
Street (Washington) near the Old South, then called Cornhill. 
The streets were paved with pehhles ; and, except when dri\'en on 
one side hy carts and carriages, every one walked in the middle 
of the street, where the pavement was the smoothest." * 

It is not believed that there was a sidewalk in Boston until 
after tlie Rev(dution. At this time State Street was without 
any, the pavement reaching across the street from house to 
house. 

It is probable that those inhabitants whose business or 
pleasure took them from home after dark must for a long time 
lun^e lighted their own way through the devious lanes and by- 
ways of the town. We can imagine the feelings of a pair of 
fond lovers who, taking an evening stroll, are bid by the cap- 
tain of the watch to " Stand ! " while he throws the rays of a 
dark lantern upon the faces of the shrinking swain and his mis- 
tress. Yet, although street-lamps were said to have been used 
as early as 1774, until 1792 there seems to have been no action 
on the town's part towards lighting the streets, when we read 
that the " gentlemen selectmen propose to light the town," 
early in January of that year, " and to continue the same until 
the sum subscribed is expended." Those gentlemen that pro- 
posed to furnish lamps were requested to have them "hxed" 
by a certain day, so that the lamplighter may have time to 
prepare them for lighting. To the puldic sjiirit of the citizens, 
then, is due the first shedding of light upon the gloomy ways 
of tlie town. Gas was not used to illuminate the streets until 
1834, thougli the works at Copp's Hill were erected in 1828. 
In Decendjer of that year gas was first used in the city. 

The springs which supplied the older inhabitants gave 
place to wells, and these in their turn gave way to tlie de- 
mand for an abundant sujiply of })ure water for the whole town. 

* Quincy Memoir. 



INTRODUCTION. 23 

AVells had to be sunk a de\){]i varying from fifteen feet on the 
low ground to one hundred and twenty feet on the elevated 
portions, and the water Avas usually brackish and more or less 
impregnated with salt. Water was therefore introduced from 
Jamaica Pond, in West Iloxbury, by a company incorporated in 
1795. The pipes used were logs, of which about forty miles 
were laid. The trenches were only three to three and a half 
feet in depth, which did not prevent freezing in severe weather, 
while the smallness of the pipe, — four-inch mains, — rendered 
the supply limited. 

Under the administration of Mayor Quincy the subject of 
a new supply of water was agitated. In 1825 a great fire 
occurred in Kilby Street, destroying fifty stores, and the want 
of water as a means for the subduing of fires became evident. 
Twenty years were spent in controversy before action was 
taken, but in August, 184G, ground was broken at Lake Cochit- 
uate by John Quincy Adams and Josiali Quincy, Jr. In Octo- 
ber, 1848, the work was completed, but the growth of Boston 
has rendered this source insufficient in less than twenty years, 
and the waters of Sudbury Eiver are to be made tributary. 

Boston has enlarged her territory by the annexation of Dor- 
chester Neck (South Boston), in 1804 ; AVashington Village in 
1855 ; Roxbury, in 18G8 ; and Dorchester, in 1870. East Bos- 
ton (NodcUe's Island), though forming a part of Boston since 
1G37, had neither streets nor local regulations until the incor- 
poration of the East Boston Company ; public officers first set 
foot upon the island in 1833. There was then but one house 
in the whole of that now popidous ward, comprising six hun- 
dred and sixty acres. South Boston, when annexed, had only 
ten families on an area of five hundred and seventy acres, and 
but nineteen voters. There being at this time no bridge, the 
inhabitants were obliged to come to Boston via the Neck. 
The builtling of a bridge was the condition of annexation. 
South Boston was taken from the territory of Dorchester, 
lioxbury, itself a city, brought a large accession to Boston, to 
which it had long been joined in fact. Dorchester, settled a 
few months earlier than Boston, has become a ward of the 



24 laxd:\iarks of bostox. 

iiictropolis. These two tcnvn.s l)rriu;.;lit an increase to the p()p\i- 
latiou of al)ont forty thousand, and a territory of nearly seven 
thousand acres. 

Communication hetween Boston and the surrounding towns 
was at hrst wliolly ])y tlie Neck. The people of Cln'Isea thus 
had a circuit of at least a dozen miles, and a day's journey 
before them, to go to town and return. There was a ferry es- 
tahlished at Charlestown and Winnisimmet (Chelsea) as early 
as 1G35, — five years after the settlement of Boston. "We hnd 
by the records that Thomas INIarshall " was chosen by generall 
consent for y*" keeping of a Ferry from y" JNIylne I'oint vnto 
Charlestown and Wynneseemitt, for a single i)'son sixpence, and 
for two, sixpence ; and for every one alx)ve y" numl^er of two, 
two pence apiece." Ships' Ijoats were hrst used, then scows, 
and this continued to be the only means of transit until 1786. 
Four years previous to this the INIanpiis Chastellux states that 
lie was one hour making the voyage from "Winnisiiumet in a 
scow lilled with cattle, sheep, etc. Seven tacks were reipiired 
to bring them safely to land. 

A bridge to Cambridge Avas agitated as long ago as 1739. 
The obstruction to the passage of ferry-boats l)y ice was a 
serious inconvenience. Charles Iliver l^ridge, from the Old 
Ferry landing to Charlestown, was the first constructed. The 
first jtier Avas laid on the 14th June, 1785, and the bridge 
thrown o}»en for travel in little more than a year. Tliis Avas 
considered at the time the greatest enter[)rise ever undertaken 
in America, and its successful completion AA^as celebrated by a 
public procession, consisting of both Ijranches of the Legislature, 
the })roprietors and artisans of the bridge, military and civic so- 
cieties. Salutes Avere fired from the Castle, Copp's and Breed's 
Hill. This Avas only elcA^en years after the battle of Bunker 
Hill. Thomas liussell Avas hrst president of the corporation. 

West Boston Bridge, to Cambridge, AA^as opened in November, 
1793. I)oAa'r Street, or Boston South Bridge, Avas next ojiened 
in the summer of 1805. Cragie's, or, as it used to be called. 
Canal 15ridge, from the ]\Iiddlesex Canal, Avas next completed 
in August, 1 809, fre)m Avliat Avas then knoAvn as Barton's Point, 



INTRODUCTION". 



25 



on the Boston side, to Lecliniere's Point in Cambridge. By a 
bridge thrown across from Lechmere's Point to Charlestown, 
the long detour around Charlestown Neck was avoided. Tlic 
Western Avenue, or Mill Dam, as it was long called, was 
opened with great ceremony July, 1821. The South Boston 
Bridge, from what was respectively Windmill and Wheeler's 
Point, at the foot of Federal Street, to South Boston, was com- 
pleted in 1828, and shortened the journey into Boston, by 
way of the Neck, about a mile.' Warren Bridge met with 
great opposition from the proprietors of Charles Biver Bridge, 
but was opened as a public highway 
December, 1828. This completes 
the list of the older avenues of tra- 
vel to the mainland ; but we have 
now a magnificent iron structure 
to South Boston, recently erected, 
wlide the numerous railway bridges 
spanning the river enable the city 
to stretch its Briareusdike arms in 
every direction for traffic. 

Coaches are first mentioned as 
being in use in Boston in 1668-69. 
Captain Anthony Howard appears 
to have owned one in 1687, for he 
was fined twenty shillings that year 
" for setting a coach-house two feet 
into y^ streete at y* N. End of y® Towne." * In 1798 there 
were 98 chaises and 47 coaches, chariots, phaetons, &c. in all 
Boston. In October, 1631, Governor Winthrop went on foot 
to Lynn and Salem, and until there were roads it is obvious 
there was little use for wheeled vehicles, even for such as 
could afford them. In 1750 there were only a few carriages, 
and these, chariots and coaches. Four-wheeled chaises were 
in use in families of distinction. The first public coach or 
hack used in Boston was set up in 1712 by Jonathan Wardell, 
at the sign of the Orange Tree, head of Hanover Street. One 




WINTHROP FORDING THE RIVER. 



* Town Records. 



26 LANDMARKS OF BOSTOX. 

was also set up by xVdino Paddock, in 17(12, who called it the 
" Burling Coach," from its London prototype. Paddock was 
a coachmaker by trade; we shall have i>ccasi()n to notice him 
in these pages. The next public veliicle was a small post- 
chaise, drawn by a j)air of gray horses, and stood at the head 
of State Street, aljout 1790. Gentlemen and ladies who at- 
tended balls and parties in those times had to Avalk, unless 
they could get a cast in a friend's carriage. 

Coaches for public conveyance were tirst established in 17G3, 
when one was put on the route between Boston and Ports- 
mouth, N^. H. Bartholomew Stavers was the "undertaker," 
and his head-c|uarters were at the sign of the Lighthouse, at the 
North End. The " Portsmouth Flying Stage Coach," as he 
styled his carriage, carried six inside passengers, each paying 
thirteen shillings and sixpence sterling, to Portsmouth. The 
stage and horses were kept at Charlestown, to save the trouble 
of ferriage, and set out every Friday morning, putting up at 
the inns along the road. Returning, the stage left Portsmouth 
every Tuesday morning. Stavers gave notice " that as tliis 
was a convenient and genteel way of travelling, and greatly 
chea])er than hiring carriages or horses, he hoped ladies and 
gentlemen would encourage the same." * A stage was put on 
the route to Marblehead in 1 7G9, by Edward Wade. His car- 
riage was a post-chaise, suited for ladies and gentlemen, and he 
himself might be " spoken with at the widow Trefry's in Fish 
(Xorth) Street." 

Pailways were early under discussion by the people of 
Boston, l)ut no decisive steps were taken until 1825. The first 
road chartered in the State Avas the Experiment Railroad at 
Quincy. Next came the Lowell, incorporated in 1830, fol- 
lowed by the "Worcester, Providence, and others. The Lowell 
was the first opened for pul>lic travel, in June, 1835, closely 
followed by the Worcester in July of the same year ; the Prov- 
idence was also opened in 1835, with a single track. The 
Maine was opened from Wilmington to Andover in 1836 ; to 
South Berwick, 1843. The Eastern comes next, in 1838, in 

* Drake, p. CC4. 



INTRODUCTION. 27 

which year it \yas opened to Salem. George Peabody was the 
first president. The Old Colony began operating in November, 
1845, the Fitchburg in 1845, and the Hartford and Erie in 
1849, under the name of the Norfolk County Road. It is a 
curious fact, that every one of the eight railway stations in 
Boston stands on ground reclaimed from the sea. 

We have taken the reader through the settlement, physical 
features, and successive phases of the growth of the Old Town, 
and now that we are about to commence our rambles together, 
we warn him to be prepared for changes that w^ill make it diffi- 
cult and often impossible to fix localities accurately. For 
fifty years our men of progress have been pulling down the old 
and building up the new city. Few of its original features are 
left excej)t, in the North End. 



CHAPTER I. 



KINGS CHAPEL AND THE NEIGHBORHOOD. 



History of the Chapel. — Establishment of the Church of England. — Chapel 
Burial-Grouiid. — Boston Athenjeuni. — Academy of Arts and Sciences. — 
Historical Society. — The Museum. — Tlie Old Corner. — Royal Custom 
House. — Washington. — H. G. Otis. — Daniel Webster. — Tremont Street. 
— Howard Street. — Pemberton Hill. — Endicott. — Captain Southack. — 
Tlieodore Lyman, Senior. — John Cotton. — Sir Henry Vane. — Samuel 
Sewall. — Gardiner Greene. — Earl Percy. — Bellinghani. — Faueuil. — 
Phillips. — Davenport. — Oxenbridge. — Beacon Street. — School Street. ^ 
Latin School. — Franklin Statue. — City Hall. — Otis. — Warren. — Mas- 
carene. — Cromwell's Head. — The Old Corner Bookstore. — Anne Hutchin- 
son. — Tlie French Cliurch. — Catholic Church. — Second Universalist. — 
Province Street. — Cliapmau Place. — James Lovell. — Wendell. 

WE clioose King's Chapel for our point of departure, as 
well from its central position as from the fact tliat 
its vicinage is prohahly the oldest ground built upon in Bus- 
ton, iJlackstone's lot alone excepted. 

The exterior of King's Cliapel 
does not present any remarkahle 
architectural features. It has an 
air of solidity and massiveness 
that seems to bespeak the inten- 
tion of its builders tliat it should 
remain where it was i)Iace(L 
Tliis purpose is likely to be set 
at nauglit by tlie proposed re- 
moval of tlie Chapel northward- 
ly, to widen School Street. So 
improbal)le an idea never entered 
the heads of the founders ; but 
we make nothing nowa<lays of 
taking up blocks of brick or stone bodily, and moving them 
whither we list. 




GOVERNOR SHIRLEY. 



king's chapel and the NEIGHBOUHOOD. 



29 



King's Chapel is the fifth in the order of Boston churches. 
The architect was Peter Harrison, of Newport, R. I,, and the plan 
embraced a steeple, which Mr. Harrison thought essential to his 
general design, and would have a " beautiful eliect." For want 




king's chapel as it appears in 1S72. 

of funds, however, the steeple was never built. Governor 
Shirley laid the corner-stone on the 11th of August, 1749, and 
after giving the workmen £ 20 (old tenor) to drink his healtli, 
went into the old church, which was still standing, where a 
service appropriate to the occasion was held by liev. Mr. Caner, 
the rector. 

Mr. Harrison had been requested to present drawings with 
both a double and single tier of windows. Two rows were 
adopted, the lower ones giving that prince of punsters, Mather 
Byles, an opportunity of saying that he had heard of the 
canons of the church, but had never seen the port-holes before. 

The stone for the chapel came from Braiutree, and was taken 



30 LANDMARKS OF BOSTON. 

from the surfoce of the ground, no quarries being then opened. 
/The rough appearance of the stone is due to the hmited knowl- 
edge of the art of dressing it which then prevailed. 

Greenwood's little work on King's Chapel gives the follow- 
ing facts. It was first erected of wood in the year 1G88, en- 
larged in 1710, and, being found in the year 1741 in a state of 
considerable decay, it was proposed to rel)uild it of stone. A 
subscription for this purpose was set on foot, and Peter Fancuil 
(of Faneuil Hall memory) was chosen treasurer of the buikling- 
fund. The building was to be of stone, and was to cost 
£ 25,000 (old tenor). It was not to be commenced until 
£ 10,000 were subscribed. 

Among the lirst sul)scribers Avere CJovernor "VViUiam Shirley, 
Sir Charles Henry Frankland, and Peter Faneuil. The Gov- 
ernor gave £100; Sir H. Frankland, £50; Faneuil, £200 
sterling. Faneuil died in 1742, and the matter was for some 
time laid aside, but was revived by Mr. Caner in 1747. A 
new subscription was drawn up. Governor Shirley increased 
his gift to £200, and Sir H. Frankland to £150 sterling. 
For the subscription of Peter Faneuil the society was ol)liged 
to sue his brother Benjamin, who was also his executor, and 
recovered it after a vexatious suit at law. 

The new chapel was built so as to enclose the old church, in 
which services continued to be held, in spite of its ruinous con- 
dition, until March, 1753, when the society was ol)liged to 
remove to Trinity. The congregation having applied for the 
use of the Old South on Christmas day, a verbal answer Avas 
returned granting the request on condition "that the house 
should not be decorated with spruce," etc. 

Ftforts to obtain money to complete the chapel were made 
in every direction. Amrmg others, Captain Tliomas Coram, 
founder of the Foundling Hos^ntal in London, wlio had re- 
sided in this country, was applied to l)y a gentleman then in 
London ; l)ut no sooner had he mentioned the object of his visit 
tlian he was obliged to listen to a burst of ])assionate reproaches 
for some alleged slight the vestry of King's Cliapel had formerly 
])ut upon him. The old gentleman liiially told his visitor, with 



king's chapel and the NEIGHBOKHOOD. 



31 




OLD KING S CHAPEL. 



an oath, " that if the twelve Apostles were to apply to hira in 
behalf of the church, he would ])ersist in refusing to do it." 

The portico was not completed until 1789. In that year 
General AVashington was in Boston, and attended an oratorio 
in the chapel, which had for its object the completion of the 
portico. The general was 
dressed in a black velvet suit, 
and gave live guineas towards 
this purpose. 

The old building, which 
gave place to the present one, 
had an apology for a tower, 
on the top of which Avas a 
crown, and above this a cock 
for a vane. A gallery Avas 
added after the enlargemimt 
in 1710, and the jiulpit was 
on the north side. Opposite 
Avas a pew for the governors, and near it another for officers 
of the British army and navy. In the west, gallery was the 
first organ ever used in Boston, given to the society by Thomas 
Brattle. A bell Avas purchased in 1G89, and a clock AA'as do- 
nated in 1714 by the gentlemen of the British Society. The 
AA'alls and pillars Avere hung Avith the escutcheons of the King, 
Sir Edmund Andros, GoA'ernors Dudley, Shute, Burnet, Bel- 
cher, and Shirley, and formed a most striking contrast with the 
bare walls of the Puritan churches of the town. In the pidpit, 
according to the custom of the times, Avas an hour-glass to mark 
the length of the sermons, Avhile the east end Avas adorned Avith 
an altar-piece, the Ten Commandments, Lord's Prayer, etc. The 
emblems of heraldry have disappeared. It was the usage of the 
church to place the royal governors at the head of the vestry. 

As you enter the chapel, at your left hand is the monument 
of AVilliam Yassall, erected by Florentine Vassall, of Jamaica, in 
1766. To the right is a beautiful monumental tablet dedicated 
to the memory of the yoimg men of the chapel Avho fell in the 
late civil war. 



32 LANDMARKS OF BOSTON. 

On tlie south side are mural tablets to William Sullivan, John 
Lowell, Thomas Newton, — an original founder, — and Frances 
Shirley, wife of the Governor. Within the cliancel are busts 
of Greenwood and Freeman, rectors, and of their successor Dr. 
Peabody. The burial-ground side contains tablets to Charles 
Apthorp and Samuel Appleton. Over the vestry are the names 
of Charles Pelliam Curtis, long the treasurer, and of William 
Price, a patron of the church. These are about the only monu- 
mental marbles to be seen in our city churches, though others 
have mural talilets. The Vassal monument, a beautiful specimen 
of the art in the last century, is by Tyler, a London sculj^tor. 
These add interest to the church, and reflect in a modest way 
the glories of old St. Paul's and of Westminster Abbey. 

The first bell was cracked, while tolling for evening service, 
May 8, 1814. The wits seized upon the accident with avidity, 
and commemorated it in the following ettusion (Paid I'evere re- 
cast the bell, and some churchman answered the innuendo) : — • 

"Tlie Chaiiel churcli, "The church still lives, 
Left in the lurch, The jiriest survives, 

Must surely fall ; With niiiid the same. 

For church and people Revere refounds, 

Ai}d bell and steeple The hell resounds, 

Are crazy all. And all is well again." 

The present organ of King's Chapel was procured from Eng- 
land in 175G, and ])aid for by jmvate subscription. It cost 
.£ 5()() sterling, and was said to have been selected l)y the im- 
mortal Handel himself, though the great maesti-o was then 
blind. 0\'er this organ a crown and a couple of gilt mitres 
are placed which have a history of their own. 

In the year 1775, when r>oston Avas in a state of siege, the 
British military and naval officers worshipped in King's Chapel, 
as they had in fa(;t done during the previous years the town 
was in occupation of the British soldiers. The burial of three 
soldiers of the Sixty-fifth Eegiment are the last-recorded inter- 
ments in the Chapel cemetery pre\4ous to the evacuation of the 
town in Marcli. The rector, Dr. Caner, went to Halifax with 
tlie king's troops, taking with liim the church registers, plate, 
and vestments. The service, wliich h;id in part been [)r(;seuted 



king's chapel and the neighbouhood. 33 

by the King, amounted to two thousand eight hundred ounces 
of silver. It was never recovered. 

"When the society of King's Chapel were ready to rebuild, in 
1748, they desired an enlargement of the ground for their site 
a few feet northwardly, also a piece of ground at the east side, 
on jjart of whicli then stood the Latin School. After a good 
deal of negotiation between the town and the church committee, 
the church erected a new school-house on the opposite side of 
the street on land belonging to Colonel Saltonstall, where the 
Latin School remained up to a comparatively recent time. The 
removal of the old schoohhouse was viewed with no favorrd)le 
eye by the townspeople, and Joseph Green, a Harvard graduate 
of 172G, and a noted wit, expressed the popular feeling thus: — 

"A fig for your learning ! I tell you the town, 
To make the church larger, must pull the school do\vTi. 
' Unhappily spokeu ! ' exclaims Master Birch ; 
'Then learning, it seems, stojis the growth of the church.' " 

After the departure of the royal troops, the popular furor 
against everything savoring of their late allegiance to the 
throne found expression in the removal of the royal emblems 
from public buildings, changing the names of streets and every- 
thing that bore any allusion to the obnoxious idea of kingly 
authority. King's Chapel was therefore newly baptized Stone 
Chapel, a name that has in turn been discarded for the old, 
liigh-sounding title of yore. In the reign of Qtieen Anne the 
church was called " Queens Chap})ell." 

The establishment of the Church of England in Boston was 
attended with great opposition. The Puritans, who had fled 
from the persecutions of that church in the old country, had 
no idea of admitting it among them in the new. In 1G4G a 
petition praying for the jirivilege of Ejnscopal worship, addressed 
to the General Court at Boston, caused the petiti(mers to be 
fined for seditious expressions, and the seizure of their papers. 
Charles II., after his accession, wrote to the colony requiring, 
among otlier things, that the laws should be " reviewed " so as 
to j)ermit the Episcopal form of worship, the use of the Book 
of Common Prayer, etc. The chief j)eople and elders of the 
2* c 



34 LANDMARKS OF BOSTON. 

colony looked upon tlie efforts of the profligate Charles II. in 
behalf of religious liberty as they would upon the quoting of 
Sevi[iture by his Satanic Majesty, and paid little heed to the 
mandate of the merry monarch of whom his favorite Ilochester 
wrote, — 

" Here lies oiir sovereign Lord tlie King, 
Whose word no man relied on ; 
Who never said a foolish thing, 
Aiid never did a wise one." 

The King, when over his bottle, commanded Rochester to 
write him a suitable epita])h, " something appropriate and 
witty." The Earl, seizing his pen, wrote as above, and for his 
keen effusion remained some time in disgrace. 

In 1G8G, in the reign of James II., the first Episcopal services 
were held in the Old Town House, which then stood on the 
site of the Old State House. Eev. liobert Itatclitf was the 
first Episcopal clergyman, and came OA^er in the Eose frigate in 
May, 168G. The town, however, continued to refuse the use 
of any of the meeting-houses, and the society were unable to 
buy land on Cotton (now Pemberton) Hill to build on. Edward 
Randolph — the first officer of customs that Boston had, a man 
specially hated for his siiccessful efforts to have the king I'evoke 
the colonial charter — may be considered as chiefly instrumental 
in setting up the E})isc()palians in Boston. Randdlph was also 
at this time one of his Majesty's council for New England. 

Sir Edmund Andros, who arrived in Boston in December, 
1G86, after having several conferences with the ministers on 
the subject of using one of the meeting-houses for Episcopal 
services, sent Eandolph, on Wednesday, the 22d of March, 
1G87, to demand the keys of the South Meeting-house, now 
Old South. On Good Friday, which was the following Friday, 
tlii^ sexton opened the doors by command of Andros " to open 
and ring the bell for those of the Church of England." 

But time, which makes all things even, gave the Old South 
Society a signal revenge for what they considered little less than 
sacrilege. King's Chapel, al)andoned by its rector and con- 
gregation when the town was e\'acuated, remained closed until 
the autumn of 1777, when it was occui)ied by the Old South 



king's chapel and the neighboihiood. 35 

Society, whose house had been converted into a British riding- 
scliool. This society used the Chapel about five years. 

King's Chapel stands as a monument to mark the resting- 
place of Isaac Johnson, the second white inhabitant of Boston. 
The locality of the grave is unknown, and is likely to remain 
so, owing to the many changes, both past and prosijective, in 
the old bimal-gTound. Johnson, under whose direction tlie 
settlement of Boston mainly proceeded in its incipient steps, 
selected for himself the square enclosed by Tremont, Court, 
Washington, and School Streets. So says tradition on the 
authority of Chief Justice SewaU. Johnson died in September, 
1G30, and was buried at his own re(piest at tlie southwest 
end of his lot. Tliis solitary grave was the nucleus around 
which gathered tlic remains of the first settlers, and constituted 
the first place of sepulture in the town. The old church of 
1G88 was erected on the burying-grountl, it is conjectured by 
authority of Andros ; the town would not have permitted the 
use of tlie public burying-ground for this purpose. 

Johnson's history has a touch of romance. He married 
Lady Arabella, daughter of the Earl of Lincoln. She left her 
native land and a life of ease to follow her husband to the 
wihls of America. She died very soon after her arrival, in 
Salem, and was probably buried there ; but the location of her 
grave, like that of her husband, who so soon followed her, is 
unknown. Johnson's death was said to have been hastened by 
the loss of his amiable and beautiful wife. It was to the 
memory of the Lady Arabella that JNlrs. Sigourney wrote, — 

" Yet still she hatli a nioiniment 
To strike the pensive eye, 
The tender memories of the land 
Wherein her ashes lie." 

It is a popular belief that the Chapel Burying-Ground, or 
" Old Burjang-Place," as it was first called, contains the mortal 
remains only of such as were of the Episcopal faith ; but this 
is very far from being the case. The dust of Governor Win- 
throp, of John Cotton, Davenport, Oxenbridge, and Bridge, 
pastors of the First Church, and of other Puritans of the stern- 



LANDMARKS OF BOSTOX. 




SHIRLEY ARMS. 



est type, lie under the shadow of a detested Episcopal edifice. 
Besides these, the remains of Governor Shirley and of Lady 
Andros repose here. Here may be 
seen on the tombstones the arms and 
escutcheons of the deceased, carry- 
ing us back to the days of heraldry. 
Under the Cha})el are vaults for the 
reception of the dead. 

As we look through the iron gate 
into the enclosure, the curious ar- 
rangement of the gravestones strikes 
us. In the centre the headstones form 
a sort of hollow square, as if to repel 
further aggression upon the territory of the dead, while at 
the sides and walls the same plan is observed. This peculiar 
arrangement was the chef doeuvre of a former Superintendent 
of Burials ; many stones were removed from their original posi- 
tions, and now give effect to the proverb, " to lie like a tomb- 
stone." What would the future or even present seeker after 
the g^ave of an ancestor do in such a case of perplexity 1 
Douljtful, in a certain sense, of the legend " Here lies," he would 
restrain his emotion, fearing that the tear of affection might 
fall on the ashes of a stranger. 

King's Chapel Burying-Ground is by no means exempt from 
the ghostly legends that usually attacli to cemeteries. One is 
recorded of a negro-woman, whose coffin the careless carpenter 
liaving made too short, severed the head from the body, and, 
clapping it between the feet, nailed down the lid to conceal his 
l)lun(ler. Another is related of a person who was asserted to 
have been Iniried alive. A hue-and-cry was raised, the corpse 
was exhumed in the presence of a mob which had gathered, 
and it needed the assurance of the doctors Avho examined the 
remains to set tlie affiiir at rest. Tlie mob, disappointed of its 
expected sensation, i)roposed to biny the old woman Avho had 
raised the uproar, but did not execute the threat. ■'" Interments 
ceased here in 179G. 



* Dealiii2s with the Dead. 



king's chapel and the neighbokhood. 37 

Next northerly from tlie Inirying-grouud once stood an old 
wootleu building covered with rough cast. It was the residence 
of some of the rectors of King's Chapel, and of Dr. Caner, the 
last one. This building was occupied by the Boston Athenyeum 
in 1810, and was taken down about forty years ago, to give place 
to the stone building occupied later as a Savings Bank and by 
the Historical Society. The Athena;um, now so conspicuous 
among literary institutions, owes its origin to the Anthology 
Club, an association of gentlemen for literary purposes. They 
conducted a periodical called the_ IVIonthly Anthology, and in 
it published proposals in 180G for subscriptions for a public 
reading-room. Success following this eftbrt, it was determined 
to add a library, and trustees Avere appointed for the manage- 
ment. The rooms Avere first opened in Joy's Buildings, on the 
west corner of Congress and Water Streets ; then in Scollay's 
Building in Tremont Street ; and later, in the location lirst 
mentioned. 

The Boston Athen?eum became incorporated in February, 
1807, and occupied three rooms in the old rough-cast building. 
The first was the news or reading room ; the second, the library 
of the Athenaeum and American Academy ; the third, the pri- 
vate library of John Quincy Adams, now in a building erected 
for it in the garden of the old mansion at Quincy. 

Mr. Shaw, in his history published in 1817, gives the follow- 
ing particulars with regard to the library at that time : " The 
library of the Athenieum contains upwards of ten thousand 
volumes. The collection in history and biography is very 
complete, and in American History unrivalled ; under this 
head may be noticed three thousand pamphlets. Twenty-one 
foreign and about twelve American periodicals are received." 
In 1822 the Athenteum was removed to Pearl Street, near the 
corner of High, to a building partly purchased and partly pre- 
sented by James Perkins. At this time the library possessed 
seventeen thousand five hundred volumes and ten thousand 
tracts. It now contains ninety-seven thousand six hundred 
A'olumes. 

The Athenteuui was removed in 1849 to Beacon Street, 



38 • LANDMARKS OF BOSTON. 

Avlu're its spacicms halls, devoted to sculpture find paintiniif, 

attract tlie lovers of art, no less than its unrivalled library and 

extensive readin<i,-roonis draw to its shrine the student in every 

department of literature. Pope tells us, — 

" A little learning is a dangerous thing ; 
Drink deep, or taste not the Pierian spring." 

Here we may drink to intoxication, and avoid the danp;"er he 
points out. This institution lias received munilicent contri- 
butions ; among others may be named twenty-hve thousand 
dollars nol)ly donated at once by John Eromtield. Thomas 
H. Perkins was a generous benefactor, and many other eminent 
Bostonians have aided it handsomely. 

The corner-stone of the elegant freestone building on 
Beacon Street was laid in April, 1847. The design was by 
Edward C. Cabot, but some interior alterations were made 
under the direction of Billings. The site was the estate of 
Edward B. l*hilli}]s, but the proprietors had purchased the 
ground on which the ^luseum stands in Tremont Street, Avitli 
the intention of building there. This ground was sold. The 
original members of the Anthology Club, founders of the Athe- 
n;eum, were John Sylvester John (Jardner, "William Emerson, 
Artlnu' j\[. "Walter, A^^lliam S. Shaw, Sanntel C. Thacher, Joseph 
S. r>uckminster, Joseph Tuckerman, William Tudor, Jr., Peter 
O. Thacher, Thomas (Jray, William "Wells, Edmund T. Dana, 
John C. Warren, and James Jackson. 

The Athenannn contains, among other works of art, marlJe 
busts of Dr. Kirkland, by Greenough ; of Chief Justice ]\Iar- 
shall, by Erazco ; of W. II. Prescott, by Greenough ; Crawford's 
mar1)le statues of Ilelie and Ganymede, and of Orpheus ; a 
bust of Loannui Baldwin, ])y Powers ; and Greenough's Shep- 
herd Boy in bronze. In the superb collection of paintings are 
Allston's ])ortrait of "West, and his Isaac of York ; portraits by 
Pembrandt and Vandyke; a cattle piece by Cuyp ; a Holy 
Eamily by ^Nlurillo, and landscapes by Yanderwert. The origi- 
nal pdvtiaits of AYashington and wife, by Stuart, were pur- 
chased for fifteen hundred doUais in 1831. Besides these are 
several unfinished works of Allston. 



king's CHArEL AND THE NEIGHBOKIIOOD. 30 

The Academy of Arts and Sciences is the oldest institution 
witli literary oljjects in Boston, and the second in Anieric-a. It 
was instituted in 1779, and received a charter the next year, 
in which the design of the Academy is stated to be, " tlie pro- 
motion of the knowledge of the antiquities of America and of 
the natural history of the country." The number of members 
is limited to two hundred. 

Governor Bowdoin was the first president, followed by John 
Adams, Edward A. Holyoke, J. Q. Adams, Xathaniel Bowditch, 
John Pickering, and other distinguished persons. Count Rum- 
ford left a legacy within the control of the Academy to ad- 
vance the cause of science. The society occiqnes a room in 
the Athenanim. 

The Historical Society originated as early as 1791. On 
the 24th of January, Hon. Judge Tudor, Rev. Drs. Belknap, 
Thacher, and Eliot, Judge Winthrop of Cambridge, Rev. Dr. 
Freeman, Judge Minot, Hon. W. Baylies of Dighton, Judge 
Sullivan, afterwards governor of INIassachusetts, and Thomas 
Wallcutt, met and organized. The meetings Avere hrst held in 
Judge INIinot's office in Spring Lane, but tlie use of a corner 
room in the attic of Faneuil Hall was soon obtained, " a i)lace 
as retired and recondite as explorers into the recesses of anti({- 
uity Would think of visiting." In 1791 the society occupied 
the jNIanufactory House in Hamilton Place. In 1793 the 
society was ofl'ered a room in the Tontine Crescent, on the 
south side of Franklin Street, over the arcdi, the enti'ance into 
Arch Street. Charles Bulfinch, "William Scollay, and Charles 
Vaughan, who reclaimed Franklin Street from a quagmire, made 
this ofier, and here the society reniained until 183.3, Avhen it 
removed to its late quarters in Tremont Street, from which it is 
now temporarily ousted by the re])airs of the building. The 
situation in Franklin Street presented the singular phase of a 
building without land, as it rested upon an arched passage- 
Avay. 

Governor Gore Avas president in 1800. In 1838 the society's 
collections amounted to six thousand volumes an<l nia]iuscrii)ts. 
The society possesses many relics of historic interest. It has 



40 LANDMARKS OF BOSTON. 

portraits of Governors Enclicott, Winslow, Pownall, Dummcr, 
Belcher, Winthrop, Hutcluuson, Strong, Gore, etc. Tliat of 
Winslow is supposed to be a Vandyke. The swords of C!over- 
nor Carver, Myles Standish, Colonel Church, Governor Brooks, 
Sir William Pepperell, and those of Captain Linzee and Colo- 
nel Prescott, worn at Bunker's Hill, are the property of the 
society. ISTot the least curious among these relics is a silk flag 
presented by Governor Hancock to a colored company called 
tlie " Bucks of America," bearing the device of a pine-tree and 
a buck, above which are the initials " J. H." and " G. W." 
There is also a gun used at the capture of Governor Andros liy 
the Bostonians in 1689 ; the samp-bowl of King Pliiliii, and 
the lock of the gun Avith which he was killed. 

Tlie lil)rary of the society has a value not to be estimated in 
dollars and cents. It was the foundation of materials for the 
history of New England, many of which have been published 
in the society's valuable collections. 

Among other valuable donations to the society may be men- 
tioned the papers and documents of General William Heath of 
lievolutiouary fame, besides the magniticent library of Thomas 
Dowse of Cambridge, containing aljout live thousand volumes, 
many being of the greatest historical interest. 

The Museum building, which covers twenty thousand feet 
of land, and cost a quarter of a million, is one of the attractive 
objects of the street and of the city. For many years its rows 
of exterior lights have been a lamp in the path of the pedes- 
trian and a lure to its votaries. On its boards have stood in 
times i^ast the elder Booth and ]\Irs. George Barrett. Booth, 
of whom a cajiital likeness in crayon, l)y Bowse, hangs in the 
main liall, deserves to l»e classed with Kean, Kemble, and the 
giants of tlie stage. His unfortunate penchant for convivial in- 
dulgence has given rise to many anecdotes. On one occasion, 
Avhile playing at the Howard, Tom Ford, the manager, stipu- 
lated that Ijooth should sulimit to be locked in his room by a 
certain hour, in order that the actor might not be in a condition 
to disappoint the audience, as was sometimes the case. The 
chagrin of the manager may be imagined at tiuding the tragedian 



king's chapel and the neighborhood. 41 

intoxicated when he came to fetch him to the theatre. Booth 
had bribed a waiter to bring lic^uor to his door, where succes- 
sive glasses were emptied by means of a straw through tlie key- 
hole. As Richard III. Booth was incomparable. He often 
became greatly excited in the combat scene, and on one occa- 
sion it is stated that he attacked W. H. Smitli, the veteran 
actor, lately deceased, in dead earnest, driving him from the 
stage, and pursuing him into the street. 

William Warren, the first comedian of the American stage, 
made his first appearance at the Museum in 1847, and after 
twenty-five years of service is still without a peer in his pecu- 
liar parts. Adelaide Phillips, whose triumphs on the lyric 
stage are well known, was a danseuse at the Museum in the 
year just mentioned. By the generosity of Jenny Lind and 
other friends she was enabled to obtain a musical education in 
Europe. 

The present Museum is near the site of the old Columbian 
Museum, which passed through many mutations, and was 
finally destroyed by fire in January, 1807. The Columbian 
Museum originated in the exhibition of wax-works at the 
American Cofiee House in State Street, opposite Kilby, as 
early as 1791. Mr. Bowen, the proprietor, removed to what 
was called " the head of the jNIall," at the corner of Bromtield's 
Lane (now Street) in 1795. This building was burnt in Janu- 
ary, 1803 ; but Mr. Bowen was enabled to reopen his Museum 
in Milk Street, at the corner of Oliver, in May of that year. 
In 1806, a brick building five stories high was erected by Doyle 
about where the present Probate Office is, and reached by a pas- 
sage from Tremont Street. It was opened Thanksgiving evening. 

The destructive element soon swept away this edifice. It 
took fire about midnight, and was consumed with all its con- 
tents ; not an article was saved. The event was signalized by 
a painful disaster. A large crowd of spectators had collected 
in the burying-ground adjoining, when the walls fell, killing 
nine or ten boys, from twelve to fifteen years old. Dr. William 
Eustis, afterwards govei-nor of Massachusetts, resided then in 
* Sudbury Street, and mth other physicians lent his aid on the 



4:^ LANDMAliKtt OF LOSTOX.. 

occasion. Tlio undismayed proprietors had a new two-story 
l)uilding erected by June, 1807, which continued until 1825, 
when the collection was sold to the New England Museum. 

The New England Museum — formed from the Kew York 
INIuscum, which was opened in 1812, in Boylston Hall; from 
Mix's Xew Haven Museum, added in 1821 ; and froin the 
Cohunhian — was opened by ]\Ir. E. A. Greenwood, July 4, 
1818. It was situated on Court Street, and extended from 
Cornhill to Ih-attle Street, occupying the upper stories. In 
1839 ]\Ioses Kimball became the proprietor, and these several 
establishments, merged in the New England, constituted the 
present Museum, first located on the present site of Horticul- 
tural Hall in 1841, and in 184G where it now stands. 

At the corner of Court and Tremont Streets Avas the resi- 
dence of John "Wendell, an old Ijoston merchant of the time 
of Governor Shirley. He married a daughter of Judge Edmund 
(^)uincy, and was the neithew of Hon. Jacob Wendell, a leading 
Bostiinian in the troublous Ivevolutionary times. 

The Eoyal Custom House was located in Wendell's house in 
1759, at which time George Cradock, Esq., a near neighbor of 
Wendell's, Avas collector. 

The old building now standing here, then of only three sto- 
ries, is the one in which Washington lodged during his visit 
^ ^, =iiim(.¥i^_^^ - in 1789, as you may read 

-^^^=^ _-: - ^^J^- ^ on the small tablet jilaced 

" _ '■ f-,~J__ in the Court Street front. 
r — n-sr-.,^ ' At the time Washinuton 



"1 




rrl 


i 


,n 


p] 


V 


ii 



g R 



■p:i! I a n fj p h ' occupied it, it was kept by 
:'i'| " J d n n J. Joseph IngersoU as a board- 



^i: 



Joseph IngersoU as a board- 
ing-house. The coming of 
Washington to the town he 
had delivered in 1776 was 



m 

'~~ii^''T|'"1' IG' 1^ ■ iii'1-rred by an act oi onicial 
})unctilio on the part of Gov- 



f'. 



WAhMKiUTO-N' .i LOMaNGS. 



k'k ^M[JWi'3 ernor Hancock, which caused 
the greatest mortitication 
alike to the people and the 
illuslrious visitor. 



king's CHAl'KL AND THE NEIGHBOKIIOOD. 43 

On the arrival of the general on the Xeck, he was met hy 
the suite of the governor, Init not hy the governor, whose views 
of State sovereignty woiihl not admit of his acknowledging a 
superior personage within his ofheial jurisdiction. The day 
was cold and raw, and Washington, chagrined at tlie ahsenco 
of the governor, was about to turn his horse's head to dei)art, 
Avhen he was prevailed upon by the authorities of the town to 
enter it. 

A long delay had occurred at the Neck, and many people 
caught what was called tlie "Washington cold." The general 
wore his old continental uniform, and rode on horseback with 
his head luicovered, but did not salute the throngs that lined 
his way. On arriving at the Old State House, Washington 
would not ascend to the balcony prepared for him at the west 
end, until assured that the governor was not there ; and after 
the passage of the procession before him, retired to his lodgings. 
To add to the coldness of his reception, a cold dinner awaited 
him ; but his landlord procured and placed before his guest a 
fish of great excellence, and thus saved his credit at the last 
moment. 

Washington himself declared the circumstance had been so 
disagreeable and mortifying that, notwithstantling all the marks 
of respect and affection he had received from the inhabitants 
of Boston, he woidd have avoided the place had he anticipated 
it."' 

Governor Hancock, perceiving that he had made a fiasco, 
hastened to repair it. General Washington had declined his 
invitation to dinner, so the governor caused himself to be car- 
ried next day to the general's lodgings, where he presented 
himself swathed in flannels as a victim of gout. The general 
received the governor's excuses with due civility, whateA'er may 
have been his private convictions, and so the afl'air terminated. 

Madam Hancock, indeed, related afterwards that the gover- 
nor was really laid up with gout, and that Washington shed 
tears when he saw the servants bringing the hel]iless man into 
his presence. Governor lirooks, and Hon. Jonathan Jackson, 

* iJuiidrcd Boston Orators. 



44 LANDMARKS OF BOSTON. 

tlien JVIarsLal of the District, dined with the general on the 
day of his arrival, but did not hold this view, and the attair 
was freely discussed at tajjle. Hancock seems to have yielded 
to the popular pressure which condemned his conduct. He 
was said to have been jealous of Washington's elevation to the 
Presidency. The general returned tlie governor's visit, was 
affable among friends, but stood on his dignity when strangers 
were present. 

Harrison CJray Otis was one of the first who occupied this 
old corner for a law office. In his day it was consid(,'red quite 
on one side, though only a few paces distant from the Court 
House. Mv. Otis came upon the stage a little before the open- 
ing of the Revolutionary conflict. He remembered seeing Earl 
Percy's reinforcements mustering for their forced march to 
Lexington. A pupil of Master Lovell at the Latin School, 
in 1773, he was removed to Barnstable during the siege of 
Boston, where he quietly pursued his studies, graduating at 
Harvard at eighteen. He was an aide lawyer, and until the 
advent of Mr. "Webster,- — about whicli time he relin(|uished 
practice, — was the acknowledged leader of the Boston bar. 
Judge Story thought him the greatest po23nlar orator of his day. 
His personal appearance was elegant and attractive ; his voice, 
strong and melodious, often sounded in Faneuil Hall. 

Mr. Otis Avas prominently identified with pulilic aifairs. In 
politics he was a Federalist, and a leader of that party in Con- 
gress from 1797 to 1801. He was also an influential member 
of the celebrated Hartford ConA'ention. In 1817, after filling 
a number of State offices, Mr. Otis went into the United States 
Senate ; and became mayor of his native city in 1 829. He 
was the grandson of Harrison Gray, treasurer of the colony and 
a Iioyalist, and nephew of James Otis, tlie patriot. ( Jifted in 
oratory, with a winning manner and p.ilished atldress, Harrison 
Cray Otis ranks high among Boston's public men. One of the 
I)ublic schools is named for him. 

In the building we are inspecting Avas once the law office of 
the great expounder of the Constitution, Daniel Webster, who 
first came to Boston in 1804, and studied law with Christo- 



king's chapel and the neighborhood. 45 

plier Gore, afterwards Governor of Massachusetts. He kept 
school a short time for his brother Ezekiel, in Short Street, 
since Kingston. Edward Everett, who hved with his mother 
in Newbury Street, was about ten years old, and went at this 
tune to Webster's school. 

It is related of Mr. Webster, that when a young man, about 
to begin the study of Luv, he was advised not to enter the 
legal profession, as it was already crowded. His reply was, 
" There is room enough at the top." Mr. Webster removed to 
Portsmouth, N. H., returning to Boston in 181G, and in 1820 
he was a member of the Massachusetts Constitutional Conven- 
tion. His orations at the laying of the corner-stone of Bunker 
Hill IMonument, June 17, 1825, when Lafayette was present, 
and also on its completion, June 17, 1843, are familiar to every 
school-boy. An unsuccessful candidate for the Presidency in 
1836, he entered the cabinet of General Harrison in 1840, as 
Secretary of State, negotiating the long-disputed (question of 
boundary with Great Britain by the Ashljurtou treaty. His 
great reply to Hayne of South Carolina, in the Senate, in 
which he defended New England against the onslaughts of the 
Southern Senator, made him the idol of the people of Boston. 
This speech, which opens with the graphic simile of a ship at 
sea in thick weather, her position unknown and her crcAv Idled 
with anxiety, w^as, it is said, delivered without preparation, 
amid the gloomy forebodings of the New England men m 
Washington. His wife, even, who heard the fiery harangue of 
Hayne, feared for the result ; but the " Northern Lion " reas- 
sured her with the remark that he would grind the Southern 
Senator " hner than the snuff in her box." 

Notwithstanding the sledge-hammer force of Webster's elo- 
quence he was often at a loss for a word, but when it came to 
him it was exactly the right one. His clearness of expression 
is well illustrated by the following anecdote of David Crockett, 
who, having heard Mr. Webster speak, accosted him afterwards 
with the inquiry, "Is this Mr. Webster 1" "Yes, sir." 
" Well, sir," continued Crockett, " I had heard that you were 
a very great man, but I don't think so. I heard your speech 
and understood every word you said." 



46 LANDMARKS OF BOSTOX. 

Mr. Webster's liesitation for a suitable expression is well 
described by the followiiiL,^ anecdote. At a meeting in Faneuil 
Hall he -was arguing in favor of the " ]\Iaysville Itoad " bill, 
with his usual })ow(!r, and remarked, " 1 am in favor, Mr. 
('hairinan, of all roads, except, except — " Here he stuck, at 
fault for a word, until Harrison < Iray Otis, who sat near him 
on the platform, said in a low voice, " Say except the road to 
ruin." JNlr. Webster adopted the suggestion, and used it as if 
he had merely paused to make his remark more effective. 

In Bench and Bar, it is related that, while Webster was 
Secretary of State, the French ^linister asked him whether the 
United States Avoukl recognize the new goverinnent of France. 
The Secretary assumed a very solemn tone and attitude, saying, 
*' Why not 1 The United States has recognized the ]>ourl)ons, 
the French Bepublic, the I)irectory, the Council of Five Hun- 
dred, the First Consul, the Emperor, Louis XVI II., Charles X., 
Louis Philijjpe, the — •" "Enough! Enough!" cried the 
Minister, perfectly satisfied by such a formidable citation of 
consistent precedents. 

Mr. Webster lived in Somerset Street, and also at the corner 
of High and Summer Streets, during the different periods of 
liis I'esidence in Boston. The hcmse in S(»merset Street is 
on the east side, is nundjered thirty-seven, and is still standing. 
It was occupied successively by Uriah Cotting, Daniel Web- 
ster, Abbott Lawrence, and Eev. Ephraim Peabody of King's 
Chapel. Webster's residence in High Street is marked by a 
splendid block of stores, aptly styled "Webster Buildings." 
Here he resided at the time of Lafayette's visit in 1825, and 
received the distinguished Frenchman on the evening of the 
17th of June, 

Mr. Wiibster was a genuine lover of nature and of field 
sports, and was a good shot. He delighted in his farm at 
Mai-shfield, and in his well-fed cattle. Gray's Elegy was his 
favoi'ite poem, and he was accustomed to repeat it Avith great 
feeling and emphasis. Uf his two sons, Edward died in 
Mexico, a j\Iajor of the INIassachusetts Volunteers ; Fletcher, 
C(.)lonel of the Twelfth Massachusetts Volunteers in the War of 
the Bebellion, was killed near Bull Bun in 1802. 



king's chapel and the NEIGHEOKIIOOn. 47 

With two sucli distinguished lights of the profession as 
Otis and Webstc^r before them, it is no wonder tlie old corner 
retains its niaguetisui for the disciples of Sir William Dlack- 
stone. 

Having now passed down one side of ancient " Treamount " 
Street, wo will repair to the corner of Howard Street, and 
go np the other side, following the practice of the fathers 
of the town, who numbered the streets consecutively down 
on one side and up the othei*. Tliis is still tlie custom in 
London, and was doubtless imported with many other old- 
country usages. 

Old "Treamount Street" began in 1708, at the extreme cor- 
ner of Coui't Street and Tremont lioAV, as they now are, and 
extended around the base of wliat was lirst called Cotton Hill 
(so called as late as 1733), from the residence of liev. John 
Cotton ; subsequently Pemberton Hill, from James Pemberton, 
a later resident at the nortli end of what is now Pemberton 
Square. It was at hrst merely called a highway, like the other 
principal avenues, received very early the name of street, and 
was at the northerly part called Sudbury Lane, 1702. It ter- 
minated at Beacon Street. Pemberton Hill, a spur of Beacon, 
now marks a level of about eighty feet below the sumiuit of 
the original hill, it having been cut down in 1835. 

On the brow of the hill, later the residence of Gardiner 
Greene, was the mansion of Governor Endicott, that uncom- 
promising Puritan who, in 1629, sent the obnoxious Episcopa- 
lians home to England, and afterwards cut out the cross from 
the King's standard because it "savored of popery." John 
Endicott was sent to America by the ]\Lissachusetts Company, 
in England, of which jNIatliew Cradock was governor, as their 
agent, and was governor of the colony which settled at Salem 
in 1628. He was the successor of Winthroji, as governor, in 
1644, and again in 1649, and removed to Boston in the former 
year. Endicott tilled a number of important offices ; was ap- 
pointed Sergeant Major-General in 1645, and in 1652 estab- 
lished a mint, Avhich, though without legal authority, continu(Ml 
to supi)ly a currency for more than thirty years. Governcr 



48 



LANDMAP.KS OF BOSTON. 




FNI l( (ITT ( I TTIN( 



Endicott opposed the crusade of Eev. John Cotton against tlie 
wearing of A'cils l»y ladies, and liad a warm personal discussion 

with tliat eminent divine. His 
portrait is more like a cardinal of 
liichelieu's time than a Puritan 
soldier. His head is covered Ijy a 
close-titting velvet skull-cap, from 
which the curling iron-graj hair 
i^^^j2^> is escaping down Ins shoulders ; a 
"^f^ hroad linen collar, fastened at the 
throat with cord and tassel, falls 
upon his breast, while his small 
, white right hand is grasping a 
^^ gauntlet richly emhroidered. En- 
dicott's forehead is massive, his 
IT iHF rRoss nose large and prominent; but a 
gray mustache which decorates his upper lip effectually con- 
ceals the expression of his mouth, while a long imperial of the 
French fasliion hides a portion of the chin. His whole coun- 
tenance, however, indicates strength, resolution, and coiu'age. 
The mutilation of the flag was not an act of bravado at a safe 
distance from punishment, but of conscience ; and his portrait 
shows us tliat, having once formed a conviction, he would pur- 
sue it regardless of consequences. 

Captain Cyprian Southack had a comfortable estate of two 
acres, in 1 702, lying on the northerly and easterly slope of the 
hill. Howard Street, Avhich was first named Southack's Court 
for liim, sul)sequently Howard Street, from John Howard the 
philanthropist, ran through his lands. Captain Southack served 
under the fomous Colonel Benjamin Church in an expedition 
against the French and Indians in 1704, in which he com- 
manded a small vessel, called the Province Snow, of fourteen 
guns. "Wlien Admiral Sir H. AValker arrived in P)Oston in 
1711, with a fleet and live thousand men destined to act against 
the French in Canada, he took up his residence with Southack 
in Tremont Street. Tlie captain was to lead the van of the 
expedition. 



king's CIlArEL AND THE NEIGHDOlMIOOr). 4') 

In 1717 tlie pirate sliip Wliidah, connnantlcd by the noto- 
rious Samuel Eellaiuy, was wrecked on the rocks of tliat part 
of Eastliani, now AVelltleet. The council despatched Captain 
Southack to the scene of tlie disaster. His }»owers are intli- 
cated by the following original document : — 

" By virtue of power to me, given by Lis Excellency Sand. Sliute, 
Esij., Govt., and the Adnural, bearing date April 30th, 1717, to 
seize what goods, merchandise, or etl'ects have or may be found or 
taken from the Pirate ship wreck at Cape Codd, and those taken 
u}) by Joseph Done, Esq., in calling and bringing in to me the sub- 
scriber for his Majesty's service at Mr. Wm. Brown's at Eastham. 

" Cyprian Southack. 
"Eastham, May 6, 1717." 

r>ellaiiiy's ship was purposely run on shore l)y tlie captain of 
a small vessel he had captured the day before. The captain 
was to have received his vessel from the pirate in return for 
])il(iting hiin into Cape Cod harbor, but, distrusting the good 
faith of his captoi", run bis own vessel so near the rocks that 
the large ship of the pirate was wrecked in attempting to follow 
her. A storm arose, and the rest of the pirate fleet, throAVU 
into confusion, shared the fate of their commander. Captain 
Southack buried one hundred and two bodies. A few tliat 
escaped the wreck were brought to Boston and executed. For 
a long time — as late as 1794 — copper coins of "William and 
Mary, and pieces of silver, called cob money, were picked up 
near the scene of the Avreck. The violence of the sea moved 
the sands upon the outer bar, so that the iron caboose of the 
vessel was visible at low ebl).'" 

Theodore Lyman, senior, father of the mayor of that name, 
owned and occupied a mansion on the corner of Howard and 
Tremont Streets in 1785, A beautiful green lawn extended 
m front of his residence. These charming oases in the midst 
of the desert of brick walls have long ceased to exist except in 
the public squares. This lot was also intended to have been 
used by the Brattle Street Church Society when they rebuilt 
in 1772-73; but Governor Hancock, by the present of a bell, 

* Massachusetts Historical Collections. 

3 D 



50 LANDMARKS OF BOSTON. 

induced tliem to ruLuild on the old site. This location Avas 
also occupied by Holland's Collee House, afterwards the I'eui- 
Lcrton House, destroyed by tire in 1854. 

Passing the estate of John Jckyll, ]'>sq., one of the earliest 
collectors of the port of Boston, 1707, and a great i'riend of his 
neighljors the Faneuils, we come to that of iJev. John Cotton, 
the spiritual father of Boston. John Cotton, as stated in our 
introductory chapter, was vicar of St. Botolph's Church in Bos- 
ton, England, Ijut inclined to the Puritan form of Avorship. 
Cited to appear before the notorious Archbishop Laud for 
omitting to kneel at the sacrament, he fled to America, and 
arrived in Boston in 1G33, three years after the settlement. 
Here he became a colleague of the Pev. John Wilson in the 
pastorate of the First Church. He was a man of giwit learning, 
Avell acquainted with Latin, (ireek, and Hebrew, and published 
many sermons and controversial wt»rks. He died from the 
effects of exposiu'e in crossing the (Jandiridge iVrry, and has 
a memorial erected to his memory in his olil church of 8t. 
Botolph's, England, through the liberality of Edward Everett 
and other Bostonians. 

The house of Mr. Cotton stood a little south of the entranco 
to Pend)erton Sipiare, near tlie street, and was standing about 
lifty years ago. It Avas then considered the oldest in Boston, 
and the back part, Avhich remained unaltered, had the small 
diamond panes of glass set in lead. His ample estate extended 
I)ack over tlie hill as far as Dr. Kirk's Church in Asldjurton 
Place, and embraced all the central portion of what is now 
Pemberton Square. 

This house had a still more distinguished tenant in Henry 
Yane the younger, Avho resided in it (.luring his stay of two 
years in Boston, making some additions to the building for his 
OAvn greater comfort. Sir Harry, Avhose eventful history is 
familiar, Avas received Avitli great res})ect by AVinthrop and 
the peoi)le of the toAvn, on his arrival in 1G35. His father, 
Sir Henry, Avas Secretary of State and Treasurer of the House- 
hold uiidi'r James I. and Cliarles I. Alienated from the 
Church of England, young Harry Vane refused to take the 



king's ciiapkl and the neigiii;oi;iiood. 51 

oatli of allegiance, and Lecamo a EepiiLlican and a I'uritan. 
He was only twenty-four when chosen governor of Massachu- 
setts Colony. During his administration the religious contro- 
versy between the congregation and the new sect of Familists, 
of whicli Anno Hutchinson was the acknowledged exponent, 
broke out. Sir Harry, opposed by Winthrop, was defeated at 
a second election of governor, but was immediately chosen a 
representative from the town to the General Court. IJeturning 
to England, in 1637, he was elected to Parliament and knighted 
in 1640. He is said to have presented the bill of attainder 
against the Earl of Strafibrd. Disliking Cromwell's dissolution 
of the Long Parliament, Vane withdroAV from })ul)lic aiiairs 
until 1649, when he became member of the Council of State, 
with almost exclusive control of naval and foreign affairs of 
the Commonwealth. At the restoration of Charles II. he was 
thrown into the Tower, and executed on Tower Hill, Lon- 
don, June 14, 1662. His bearing at the place of execution 
Avas manly and dignihed, and he has been described by Eorster 
as one of the greatest and purest men that ever wallced the 
earth : — 

" Vane, yoiing iii years, Init in sage counsel old, 

Than wlioin a better senator ne'er held 
The lielni of Rome, wlien gowns, not arms, repelled 

The fierce Epirot and th' Afric bold, 
Wliether to settle peace,' or to unfold 

The drift of hollow states hard to be spelled ; 
■ Then to advise how war may, best iipheld, 

Move by lier two maiii nerves, iron and gold, 
In all her equipage ; besides, to know 

Both spiritual power and civil, wliat each means. 
What severs each, — thou hast learned what few liave done, 

The bounds of either sword to thee we owe ; 
Tlierefore on tliy firm hand Religion leans 

In peace, and reckons thee her eldest sou." 

Judge Samuel Sewall, Chief Justice of the colony, in whose 
family the estates of Cotton and Bellingham became united, 
lived here in 1689. He Avas repeatedly applied to to seU a 
piece of his land to the Episcopalians to build a church upon, 
but refused. He married a daughter of John HuU, the cele- 
brated mint-master, Avith Avhom he got, at different times, a 



Ol: LANDMARKS OF BOSTON. 

snug portion of Master Hull's estate. He was one of the judges 
(luring the witchcraft trials of 1G92, but afterwards expressed 
contrition for his share in tliat wretched business. Stoughton, 
on the contrary, on one occasion, indignant at the governor's 
reprieve of some of the victims, left the court exclaiming, " We 
were in a way to have cleared the land of these. Who is it 
obstructs the course of justice I know not. The Lord be mer- 
ciful to the country ! " 

Judge Sewall was a considerable pr(iprietor, owning a large 
estate on Beacon Hill, known in his time as tSewall's Elm 
Pasture. Through this were laid out ancieiitly Coventry, 
Sewall, and Bishop-Stoke Street, the latter named from his 
English birth] )laee. The judge left a diary, now in posses- 
sion of the Historical Society, containing much contemporary 
histi)ry. He attended the Old South, and related to liev. 
Dr. Prince the story of Johnson's settlement and biuial in 
Boston. 

Patrick Jeftrey, who married Madam Haley, sister of the 
celebrated John Wilkes of the JSTorth Briton, became a subse- 
quent possessor of the Cotton estate. Somerset Street, named 
fmm John Bowers of Somerset, Mass., crosses the JefiVey or 
Cotton estate, and the former conveyed to the town, in 1801, 
so mucli of that street as passed through his property. 

Another jiroprietor of the Cotton estate was (Jardincr (!reene, 
Avell remembered as one of the wealthiest citizens of Boston. 
By purchase of his neighbors, Mr. (Ireene became possessed of 
the larger portion of Pemberton Hill, which he greatly beauti- 
fied and improved. The hill was terraced, and .Mr. ( ireene's 
mansion — Avhicli, though sul»stantial, had no special marks of 
elegance — was readied liy long flights of steps. ]\Ir. ( rreone 
is said to have owned the only greenhouse then existing in 
Boston, and his grounds, adorned by nature and art, made alto- 
gether the, iinest private residence in the town. 

]\lr. (Jreene was related by marriage to Lord Lyndhurst, son 
of the celebrated painter, Copley, and a Bostonian, who be- 
came a peer of the realm and Lord Chancellor of Great Brit- 
ain. He was called the " Nestor of the House of Lords," 



king's chapel and the neighborhood. 53 

and was notetl for his dry caustic humor. Once, when Lord 
13rougliam, speaking of the salary attached to a certain appoint- 
ment, said it was all moonshine, Lyndhurst, in his waggish way 
remarked, " Maybe so, my Lord Harry ; but I have a con- 
founded strong notion that, moonshine though it be, you would 
like to see the first quarter of it." 

Gardiner Greene's residence was occupied in 1775 by a noble 
tenant, Percy, afterwards Earl of Northumberland, gallant, 
chivalrous, and brave, — 

" Wlio, when a j-onnger son, 
Fouglit-lbr King George at Lexington, 
A major of dragoons." 

Percy it was who saved the royal troops from destruction at 
Lexington, on the ever memorable 19th of Ajiril, 1775. He 
seems to have changed his quarters quite often, for, about the 
time of the affair at Lexington, he was ordered by General 
Gage to take possession of the Hancock house on Beacon 
Street. He also resided some time with Mrs. SheaflTe, widow 
of the collector, in Essex Street. We shall call on him at his 
several habitations. 

Richard Bellingham, Esq., Governor of Massachusetts in 
1635, in 1G41, and again in 1G54, and from 1GG6, after the 
death of Endicott, until his own decease in 1672, was the next 
neighbor of Cotton. Anne Hibbins, who married William Hib- 
bins, an early settler of Boston, for many years in the service 
of the Colony, was a relative of Governor Bellingham. This 
unfortunate woman, denoimced fur Avitchcraft, Avas executed in 
1G5G, when an accusation was equivalent to condemnation, 
and forfeited her life to the superstitious bigotry of the period. 
Governor Bellingham served the colony as governor and dep- 
uty for twenty-three years ; was ordered by Charles IT. to 
England with other obnoxious persons, but prudently declined 
going, by advice of the General Court. Bellingham, Avhose 
intellect Avas said to have been impaired, was an um-elenting 
persecutor of the Quakers. His house stood on the spot after- 
Avards occupied by the residence of Lieutenant-Governor Phil- 
lips, opposite the nortli end of the Chapel Burying-Ground, 



54 LANDMAItKS OF BOSTON. 

iuid a1)out midway from tlic entrance to Pemljcrton Square to 
lieacon KStreet. 

The Bellingham estate was also the iiropei-ty of Peter 
Faneuil, who received it from Andrew, liis nncle, in 1737. 
The house, a fine old stone mansion, stood on the hillside some 
distance hack from the street. Opening into the cellar was 
a cimous cylindrical lijick vault, rcsemhling in shape a Avine- 
cask, and used as a Avine-cellar by the more modern occupants. 
It was about fifteen feet in diameter by twenty-live feet long ; 
and as it formed no part of the original cellar, which was 
amply sufficient for ordinary pur^ioses, was considered to have 
been a place of concealment for snuiggled goods. 

The following description of the Faneuil house is from 
^liss (^hiincy's jNIemoir : " The deep court-yard, ornamented l)y 
flowers and slirubs, was divided into an ii[)])er and lower plat- 
form by a high glacis, surmounted by a ricldy Avrought iron 
railing decorated with gilt Ijalls. The edilice was of brick, 
painted Avhite ; and OA'er the entrance door Avas a semicircular 
balcony. The terraces Avhich rose from the paved couit behind 
the house Avere supported by massy Avails of hcAvn granite, and 
were ascended by flights of ste2)s of the same material. A 
grasshopper yet glittered on a summer-house Avhich com- 
manded a vieAv only second to that from Beacon Hill." 

Such Avas the mansion at the time of its occupancy by Goa^- 
ernor Phillijjs. AndreAV Faneuil erected on this estate the first 
hothouse in XeAv England. The deed to him describes the 
mansion as " a stone house." 

Tlie Paneiiils Avere French Huguenots from La Eochelle, 
ever memoiidjle from its siege and gallant defence, and came to 
America after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes. The 
name is erroneoxisly inscrilied "Fund" on the stone Avhich coA'crs 
the remains of the Faneuils in the Granary r>arying-Ground. 
Peter Faneuil is best knoAvn as the nmniticcnt donor of Fan- 
euil Hall to the toAvn of Poston. He Avas born at iS'ew 
Eochelle, near NeAV York, in 1700 ; Avas the Avealthiest Bos- 
tonian of his day, and after having lived only forty-two 
years, died suddenly of dro})oy in 1742. Like many of liis 



KINGS CILVrEL AND THE NEIGIIDORIIOOD. bi) 

contemporaries, lie "was a slaveholder, and there is a sort of 
poetic justice in the fact that the iirst steps for the emancipa- 
tion of slaves in Boston were taken in Faneuil Hall. 

Peter Faneuil lived in a style wortliy his position as a prince 
among merchants. He owned a chariot and coach, with 
English horses, for state occasions, and a two and four wheeled 
chaise for ordinary purposes. He had five negroes, and four- 
teen hundred ounces of plate, among which is enumerated 
" a large handsome chamber-pot." His cellar was bursting 
with good wine, arrack, beer, Cheshire and Gloucester cheeses, 
— what wonder his decease was sudden ! — and he died owner 
of eight buildings in Cornliill and King Street, with many 
vessels and parts of vessels. 

To retrograde a little, next north of Peter Faneuil's once 
dwelt Rev. John Davenport, who came over to Boston in 
1637. He was one of the founders of iS"ew Haven, Connecti- 
cut. "When the Ilegicides, as Charles I.'s judges Goffe and 
Whalley Avere styled, were forced to live in concealment, 
Davenport took them into his own house. Eeturning to Bos- 
ton he became, in 1668, pastor of the First Church, but died 
in 1670, after holding his charge but a short time, and lies in 
the " Old Burial-Place," opposite where he once lived. The 
estate of Eev. John Davenport remained for nearly a century 
the property of the First Church, and Avas occupied by Fox- 
croft, Clarke, and others. 

Lieutenant-Governor William Phillips, by birth a Bostonian, 
became the proprietor of the Faneuil mansion and estate in 
1791, which was confiscated in 1783 by the Commonwealth. 
Governor Phillips also acquired the Davenport estate in 1805, 
which gave him a magnificent homestead, well worthy one of 
the solid men of Boston. He Avas in office from 1812 to 1823. 
]Mr. Phillips made a most liberal use of the fortune he inherited, 
Avas a great ])enefactor of the jNIassachusetts General Hos- 
pital during his life, and made A^aluable bequests to Phillips 
Academy, Andover Theological Seminary, and other institu- 
tions. 

Eev. John Oxenbridge, another pastor of the First Church, 



56 LANDMARKS OF BOSKDX. 

lived on the site of the Pavilion in 1G71. A fcjrmcr occu- 
pant was Colonel Saranel Shrimpton, who at one time owned 
JS^oddle's Island (East Boston), and gave his name to Avhat is 
now Exchange Street, once Shrimpton's Lane. Rev. John 
Oxenhridge was educated at Oxford and also at Camhridge, 
was a popular preacher and a fluent writer. E)ying in 1674, 
he was interred, like his predecessor Davenport, in the Old 
Burying-Place opposite. George Cradock, Collector of Boston, 
lived here in 1728. 

We have now reached the corner of Beacon Street, which 
was first styled the lane leading to the Almshouse, a ratlier 
humble designation for the most aristocratic street of Boston. 
The Albion corner was once occupied by James Penn, ruling 
elder of the First Church, and a citizen of note. It became 
later the estate of Samuel Eliot, father of jNIayor Eliot, noted 
for his reforms in the Eire Department. Both the Albion site 
and that of the block of houses west of it were occiipicd by INIr. 
Eli(jt's mansion-house and gardens. He was a true gentleman 
of the old school, Avedded to the customs of a past generation. 
In the coldest Aveather he appeared in liis customary cocked 
hat, small clothes, and ruffled shirt bosom, without cloak or 
overcoat. He was a dealer in dry goods at the west corner of 
Wilson's Lane, in Dock Stjuare. 

Erom the array of honorable names presented, Trcmont Bow 
was once entitled to be called the Botten Bow of Boston. En- 
dicott, Yane, Bellingliam, governors of the Colony ; Phillips, 
lieutenant-governor of the State ; and the eminent divines Cot- 
ton, Davenport, and Oxenhridge, all found a residence liere. 

We continue our perambulations through School Street, 
which, receiving its name from the old Latin School, was 
called Latin School Street. Its limits were the same as now, 
and it Avas flrst called the lane leading to Centry Hill. It Avas 
laid out in IGK). 

Below the old King's Chapel stood the Latin School, Avhose 
situation and removal to the opposite side of the street has 
already bci'ii described. It originated in 1634, and Philemon 
Pormont Avas " intreated to become schoolmaster for the teaching 



king's chapel and the xeighboehood. 57 

<an(l nourtering of children witli vs." Tliis was the heginnhig of 
that educational system in which Boston takes so just a i>i'i(l('. 
The grounds extended down the street nearly to the Franklin 
statue. The building itself was of one story, large enough to 
accommodate a hundred scholars. Franklin Avent to the Latin 
School one year, entering in 1714, at the age of eight years; 
his statue is, therefore, becomingly placed near his alma mater. 
John Hancock also attended the school, entering in 1745 ; his 
mnch-admired and striking autogra[)h was doul)tless acquired 
on its hard benches. liobert Treat Paine, the elder, Lieutenant- 
Governor Gushing, James Bowdoin, Cotton JNIatlier, Samuel 
Adams, Sir William Pepperell, and a host of names famous in 
our history, prepared here for future high stations. 

The early masters were men of erudition and high consider- 
ation in the town. Ezekiel Cheever ranks at the liead of the 
old pedagogues. He was one of the founders of New Haven, 
and a teacher for seventy years at JS^ew Haven, Ipswich, Gharles- 
town, and Boston. 

John Lovell presided over the school, as uslier and principal, 
from 1717 until 1775, when the siege put an end to it for a 
time. He decamped with thelloyalists in 1776. He delivered 
the first public address in Faneuil Hall on the death of its 
founder. Lovcll's house adjoined the new school, and after the 
evacuation General Gage's coach and phaeton, with harness 
entire, were found there. 

Of the school on the opposite side of the street, which, till 
1844, stood on the site of the Parker House, many distinguished 
Bostonians have been pupils, among whom Harrison Gray Otis, 
Eev. Dr. Jenks, E. C. Winthrop, Charles Sumner, and the 
sculptor Greenough are conspicuous. 

The Centre Writing School was built in 1790, on the north 
side of School Street. It was a two-story wooden building, and 
was pulled doAvn in 1812, as it then obstructed the front of the 
new Court House. This was the school of ^Master James Car- 
ter. The pupils were accommodated by an enlargement of the 
Latin School. 

The statue in bronze of Benjamin Franklin, in the grounds 
3* 



58 LANDMARKS OF BOSTON. 

of the City Hall, is by Ricliard S. Greenougli, and was cast hj 
the Ames Manufacturing Company at Chicopcc, IMass. It is 
eight feet high, and stands on a pedestal of granite, capped 
with a Ijlock of ve)'d antique marl^le. Four has-rehefs represent 
difi'erent periods of Frankhii's career. It was pubUcly inaugu- 
rated September 17, 185(j. 

"When Franklin worked in tire printing-office of Mr. Watts, 
Little Wild Street, London, he was called by his fellow-work- 
men the " Water American," because he refused to drink any- 
thing else, while they drank their iive pints of beer aj)iece daily. 
When he went to Fngland aiterwards, as agent for Massachu- 
setts, he Avent into this office, and going up to a particular 
press (now in this country), said to the two workmen, " Come, 
my friends, we will drink together. It is now forty years since 
I worked like you at this press, a joiirneyman printer." 

Franklin's celebrated toast at Versailles wiU not lose by repe- 
tition. At the conclusion of the war he, with the English 
Amltassador, Avas dining with the French Minister Vergcnnes ; 
a toast from each was called for. The British minister began 
Avith, "George III., aa'Iio, like the sun in its meridian, spreads 
a lustre throughout and enlightens the AA'orld." The French 
and)assador folloAved Avith, " Louis XVI., AAdio, like the moon, 
sheds its mild and benignant rays on and ilhimines tlie 
worlil." Our American Franklin the]! gaA^e, " George AVash- 
ington, commander of the American armies, who, like Joshua 
of old, commanded the sun and moon to stand still, and they 
Qbeyed liim." 

The City Hall stands on ground sold to the toA\'n by Tliomas 
Scotto in 1G45. The foundation of the present Imilding Avas 
laid iu 1S()2 Avitli appropriate ceremonies. It is built of Con- 
cord granite, and Avas designed by Messrs. Bryant and Gilman. 
The first ToAvn House AA^as erected between 1G57-59, at the 
head of State Street, of Avood, Avhcre the Old State House noAV 
stands. A legacy had been left l)y Cajitain Robert Keayne, 
in 165G, for this purpose, Avliich Avas supplemented by sub- 
scriptions from GoAX'rnors Endicott, Bellingham, and others. 
This building Avas consumed in the fire of 1711 ; another, built 



KINGS CHAPEL AND THE NEIGHBORHOOD. 59 

of brick ill 1712, was burnt in 1747, Avitli tlic early books, 
records, and valuable papers. In 1748 the Town House was 
rebuilt. Faneuil Hall Avas also used as a Town House for 
nearly eiglity years, and the lirst city government was organized 
there. In 1830 the city government removed to the Old State 




THE OLD COURT HOUSi: AND LIXV HALL. 



House, Avhich was, on September 17, dedicated as the City 
Hall. In 1840 the old County Court House, on the present 
site, was remodelled for a City Hall, and continued to be so 
until the erection of the present building and dedication iu 
1865. 

Our view of the Old Court House is taken from School Street, 
and shows how the building and surroundings appeared in 
1812. In the left foreground is Barristers' Hall, and to the 
right the wall and enclosure of Dr. Samuel Clarke's house is 
seen. 

The County Court House, referred to as occupying this site, 
was built in 1810, of granite. The main building was octago- 
nal, with wings at each side. It was one hundred and forty 
feet long, and was occupied by the offices of Proliate, liegistry 
of Deeds, and the County Courts. This building was called 
Johnson Hall, in honor of Isaac Johnson, tradition having 



00 LANDMARKS OF BOSTOX. 

ascribed to this spot tho. location of liis liouse, — a name which 
does not seem to liave been generally adopted. 

IS^ext the county property, in 17(50, once lived one of the 
greatest of the ante-l Revolutionary patriots, James Otis, " whose 
electric eloquence Avas like the ethereal flash that rpienched its 
fire." Otis came to Boston when he was twenty-five, in 1750, 
and in 17G1 made the famous speech against the "Writs of 
Assistance." Some severe strictures which he made upon the 
officers of customs resxdted in an attack on him at the British 
Coffee House in King Street, by John Iiobinson, a commis- 
sioner of customs, and others. Otis was severely injured, and 
received a deep cut on the head, which ultimately contributed 
to cause his insanity. As an instance of tlie magnanimity of 
Otis, he refused the damages awarded him by the court, upon 
receiving an apology from his assailant. In 17G9 Otis was 
causing the greatest concern to his friends for the increasing 
symptoms he gave of coming mental alierration. John Adams 
says of him : " I fear, I tremljle, I mourn for the man and his 
country ; many others mourn over him witli tears in their 
eyes." Otis withdrew to the coiintry in 1770, and, after a 
lirief lurid period, during Avhich he resumed practice in Bos- 
ton, he was killed at Andover in INIay, 1783, by a stroke of 
lightning, at the age of fifty-eight. 

Next the residence of Otis, where Niles's Block now is, was 
the house of Jean Paul ]\f ascarene, a French Huguenot of Lan- 
guedoc. He went to England and entered the army, coming 
in 1711 to Nova Scotia, of Avhich he became Lieutenant- 
Governor, and ultimately rose to the rank of Major-General. 
He died in P.oston in 17G0. The house was of two stories, 
of brick, and })ainted white. The Mascarene family were loyal- 
ists, and retired to Nova Scotia Avhen the Bevolution began. 

])r. John Warren, the youngest 1)rotlier of Joseph Warren, 
killed at JUinkcr Hill, next occupied the premises. The old 
house and gardens are still remembered l)y many. Dr. Warren 
served in tlie American army as hospital surgeon, and was long 
the most eminent surgeon in New England. On the day of 
Bunker Hill, the anxiety of the doctor for his brother led him 



king's chapel and the neighborhood. 61 

to attempt to ])as3 a guard, wlio gave hhu a hayonet wound, the 
mark of wliich lie carried to his grave. Dr. Warren was the 
father of Dr. Jolm C. Warren, scarcely less eminent in his pro- 
fession than his father. The old doctor died in 1815, and was 
buried from King's Chapel, Dr. James Jackson delivering the 
eulogy. Both Joseph and John Warren were born in the old 
wooden house on Warren Street, in what Avas formerly liox- 
bury. The original mansion, being ruinous, was rebuilt on 
the site of the old in 184G, partly of the old materials, by Dr. 
John C Warren. IVIany a pilgrimage is paid to the birthplace 
of the hero who placed himseK, against the advice of friends, 
in the post of honor and of danger. 

The Cromwell's Head, a famous tavern, Avas on the spot 
where the building numl;)ered 19 now stands, Avhich is to-day, 
as of yore, devoted to the replenishing of the inner man. It 
Avas kept by Anthony Brackett in 17G0, by his widow from 
17G4 to 17G8; and later by Joshua Brackett. Its repute Avas 
good, for Ave find the Marquis Chastellux alighting there in 
1782, before paying his respects to M. de Vaudreuil, com- 
mander of the French fleet that Avas to convey aAvay Eocham- 
beau's army. 

The sign of this hostelry Avas the effigy of the Lord Protector 
CromAvell, and it is said hung so loAV that all Avho passed Avere 
compelled to make an involuntary reverence. The royal officers 
Avould not alloAV it to remain ; it Avas too suggestive of the 
overthroAv of kingly authority ; but Brackett, in Avhose eyes 
this circumstance gaA^e it additional value, replaced it after the 
evacuation. ]\[ine host Brackett's carte is surmountccl by a 
facsimile of the sign, from a plate by Paul Revere, and shows 
tliat besides board, lodging and eating, one might haA'e Avine, 
puncli, porter, and liquor, Avith due care for his beast, for 
certain pounds, shillings, and pence. Brackett's, no doubt, 
commanded the patronage of his neighbors Ave have been 
noting. Itare Ben Jonson's lines might have been a trunq)et- 
call to his votaries, — 

" Wine is tlie word tliat glads tlic licart of man, 
And mine 's the house of wine. Snck says' my busli, 
Be meity and drink slicrnj, that 's my posie." 



C2 



T;ANDMAr>KS OF BOSTON. 



But mine host of ('rdiinveH's Head had in IT^G a more dis- 
tinguished guest, for in that year Lieutenant-Cohinel Washing- 
ton visited Boston accompanied by Captain George Mercer of 
Virginia ami ('a])tain Stewart. He came to refer a question of 
command to (Jeiieral Shirh>y who had succeeded Braddock in 
the military contnjl of the ccdonies. This Avas after the disas- 
trous campaign that ended in Braddock's defeat. "Washington's 
next Aasit was with tlic conmiission of the Continental Congress 
as commander-in-rhief. 

The corner familiarly known as the " Old Corner Book- 
Store," where have gathered the disciples of blackdetter and 




>RNr:n i^hokstore. 



reddine for so many years, is prolialily the oldest hrick l)uild- 
ing standing in ]5oston. It bears tlie date of 1712, and its 
erection is supjiosed to have occurred soon after the great fire 
of 1711. ShurtlelT has giATU its various occupants in detail, 
but asiih; from its literary associations the corner has only a 
single historical incident. 

Anne Hutchinson, who fills a cliajjter in the history of 
Boston commemorative of the ecclesiastical tyranny of its 



king's chapel and the NEIGIIBOnnOOD. G3 

founders, lived here uLuut 1G34. 81ie was the leader of the 
sect of Aiitinomians, and daughter of Eev. Francis ]\larbury of 
London, — an ancestor of (lovernor Thomas Hutchinson, and 
rector of several London parishes. Her mother' was great 
aunt of John Dryden the poet. She was a woman of con- 
summate ability and address, for we learn that Eev. John 
Cotton was ensnaretl hy her, while "Winthrop Avavered. The 
latter, however, became her bitter enemy, and pursued her with 
great vindictiveness. For a time she had all Boston by the 
ears, and even public business halted. 

Islebius, a German, appears to have founded the sect of 
Antinomians about 1000. It held the "law of Moses to be 
unprofitable, and that there is no sin in children." " Mistris 
Hutchison," as Governor "Winthrop calls her, after a two days' 
trial was banished in 1638, and went to Ehode Island, the 
haven of religious refugees. Going afterwards to New York, 
she fell a victim to an Indian foray. Her followers in Boston, 
a numerous faction, were disarmed. "Winthrop says " she was 
a woman of haughty and fierce carriage, a- nimble wit and 
active spirit, a very A'oluble tongue, more bold than a man, 
though in understanding and judgment inferior to many 
women." 

Al the conclusion of ]\Irs. Hutchinson's trial she was 
addressed by Governor "Wintlirop as follows : — 

" Mrs. Hutchinson ! the sentence of the court you hear is, 
that you are banished from out of our jurisdiction, as being a 
woman not fit for our society, and are to be imprisoned 'til 
the court shall send you away." 

Mrs. H. "I desire to know wherefore I am banished." 

Winthroj}. " Say no more ; the court know wherefore, and 
is satisfied." 

Just before you come to the Universalist Church, ascending 
School Street towards Tremont, was the little church, of the 
French Huguenots of Boston. This was the church of the Fan- 
ends, Baudoins, Boutineaus, Sigourncys, and Johonnots ; their 
names are not quite extinct among us, although the orthography 
may be changed in some instances. The church was built of 



04 L.VXDMAKKS OF BOSTON". 

brick, a1)out 1704, was very small, and for a long time its 
erection was opposed by tlic town. Before building, the 
French occupied one of tlie school-houses. Queen Anne 
presented a large folio Bible to this church, which afterwards 
fell into tlie possession of Mather Byles ; and Andrew Faneuil 
gave in liis will three pieces of ])late for communicm and 
baptism, besides his warehouse in King Street. Pierre Daille 
was the first minister, deceased in 1715, and was succeeded by 
Le Mercier. A singular incident led to the discovery of Daille's 
gravestone. AVhile laliorers were excavating a cellar on the 
Emmons estate on Pleasaiit Street they suddenly uncovered 
the stone which bore the following inscription : — 

Here lyes y" body of y* 
Reverend Mr. Peter 
Daille minister of y« 
French church in 
Boston died the 
21 of May 1715 
In the (37 year 
Of his age. 

After the dissolution of the society, the hoiise of the French 
Church fell into the hands of the Eleventh Congregational So- 
ciety, which arose during the excitement caused by tlie coming 
of AVhitefield. Mr. Crosswell was the pastor, dying in 1785, 
when the house passed to the Eoman Catholics. Mass was 
first celebrated in the church in Xoveniber, 1788. It was 
removed in 1802. 

The Second l^niversalist Church stands next Avcst of the 
French Church site, and like it is soon to disai^iear from the 
historic street. It was erected in 1817, after preliminary 
action in tlie preceding year 1)y a meeting held at the Creen 
Dragon Tavern. It was much enlarged and improved in 1837, 
and entirely remodelled in 1851. Pa^v. Ilosea liallou was 
the hrst pastor. Pev. E. II. Chapin preached hero from 
1840 to 1848, when he removed to Xew York, where he is still 
one of the most ekxpient divines of the metropolis. 

Province Street received its name in 1833, from its vicinity 
to the Province House. Before that time it was Governor's Al- 



kino's chapel and the NEIGIIB0I!H00D. G5 

ley. Chapman I'lace was Cooke's Court, from Elisha Cooke, a 
resident of colonial times, who was agent with Increase Mather 
in England to obtain a new charter for the colony. The house 
of Elisha Cooke becomes distinguished as the residence of Gov- 
ernor Burnet until the Province House could be made ready. 
The house was a two-story brick, with dormer windows, and 
faced the east. In front was a small court-yard. 

Loring, in the " Hundred Boston Orators," says : " The res- 
idence of James Lovell dxu'ing the devolution was on the 
estate where Chapman Hall is now located, and his family wit- 
nessed, on the house-top, the 'burning of Charlestown during 
the battle of Bunker Hill. While Mr. Lovell was impris- 
oned in the Boston jail, in Queen Street, in consequence of 
General Howe having discovered a prohibited correspondence, 
proving his adherence to the Eevolutionary cause, his devoted 
wife was daily accustomed to convey his food to the prison 
door." Chapman Hall was in Chapman Place, and is now suc- 
ceeded by the Parker House. 

James was a son of that Master Lovell of whom mention 
has been made. He had been usher of that school, and inaster of 
what is now the Eliot School. He Avas among the prominent 
Eevolutionary patriots, and had first been imprisoned and hnally 
carried to Halifix on the evacuation. After being exchanged 
in 1776, Master Lovell became a member of the Continental 
Congress; was receiver of taxes in 1784, and after being Col- 
lector of the port, was for a long time Naval Officer. He mar- 
ried Helen, one of Mr. Sheaife's handsome daughters. 

Passing by the Parker House, we reach the corner of Tre- 
mont Street again. On this corner long remained an old brick 
mansion, erected early in tlie last century by Jacob 'Wendell. 
He Avas a wealthy merchant, and colonel of the Boston Begi- 
nient in 1745 ; afterwards a councillor, and a director in the 
fh'st banking institution in the province. His son Oliver, also 
a leading Bostonian, was the grandfather of Oliver AVendell 
Holmes, the oidy "autocrat" who has ever flourished in 
Boston. 

Oliver Wendell was, like his father, a leading merchant of 

E 



66 LANDMAEKS OF BOSTON. 

Boston. He was a selectman durinLi; the siege, and joined in 
the congratulatory address to "Washington when it Avas termi- 
nated by the evacuation. The following original document 
shows us that "Wendell was trusted by the commander-in-chief: — 

The United States of America to the Suhscril )ers Dr. 

To one month's services l)y Land and Sea, from ]\Iarch, Sath 1776, 
to A]ml 25tli, Strictly watching the communication from the Town 
of Boston to the British Heet Laying in Nantaslvct Eoad in Order 
to apprehend and seize any British Spies who might have Concealed 
themselves in the Town in order to Carry Intelligence to our Enemies 
of the Proceedings of the American Troops then in the Town of 
Boston, hy Order of Major Generall Greene. 

Thirty Days Each man at 12/ p Day is £ 108.— 

Benj Wheeler 
Benj^ Barnard 
Andrew Syjimes Jr 
Joshua Bentley 
John Chajipney 
Thomas Tileston 



Oliver Wendell 



Eec the within Contents in full 

The following is indorsed on the back : — 

Pay unto Oliver Wendal Esquire one hxmdred eight pounds 
Lawful money for the use of the signers of the within account, he 
being employed by Major General Greene by my order to engage a 
number of persons for the withm service in March 1776 when the 
Enemy evacuated Boston. 

Given inider my hand at 

Camp Fredericksburg Novem 12 1778 
Hon Major ) G. Washington 

Genl. Gates ) 

To Ebeuezer Hancock Esq Paymaster Genl 

Eastern Department 
Sir, — Pay the al)ove sum of one hundred and eight pounds Law- 
ful money to Oliver Wended Esq in cons('(|uence of tlie above order 
for which this witli Ids receipt shall lie your sulHcient Warrant By 
the Generals command Horatio Gates 

John Arnistrong Jr 

Aid (k' Camp Head Quarters 25th November 1778 

Joseph Green, beyond comparison the keenest wit of his 



king's CII.VrEL AND THE NEIGHBOltllOOD. 67 

tiino, lived in School Street. He was a 'nierchant, — -Dr. Uyles 
terms him a (listillca-, —and accumulated a handsome property. 
He was the general satirist, epic, and epitaph writer of his day, 
and wielded a trenchant pen, of which none stood more in awo 
than Governor Eelcher. His epitaph on the countryman whose 
forte was raking hay, in which he excelled all but his employer, 
is as follows : — ■ 

" He could rake hay ; none could rake faster, 
Except that rakiug dog his master." 

Green, who was well advanced in life when the Eevolutionary 
struggle begun, removed to England, where he engaged in busi- 
ness, residing in the parish of St. Andrew, Holborn, London. 
He died in London in 1780. There is a portrait of Joseph 
Green, T)y Copley, in the possession of Eev. W. T. Snow of 
Jamaica Plain. Green often run a tilt with Mather Byles, 
nnhorsing his clerical opponent with his goose-quill lance. His 
residence was between the house of Dr. Warren and the Crom- 
well's Head. 



C8 LANDMAKKS OF iSUiSTON. 



CHAPTER II. 

FROM THE ORANGE-TREE TO THE OLD BRICK. 

Hanover Street. — General Warren. — Tlie Orange-Tree. — Concert Hall. — 
Bi'attle Street. — Samuel Gore. — Jolm Sniihert. — Natlianiel Sniibert. — 
Colonel Trumbnll. — Tlie Adeljihi. — Seollay's Buililings and Siiuare. 

— Queen Street Writing School. — Master James Carter. — Cornliill. — 
Brattle Street Parsonage. — Old Prison. — Captain Kidd. — Court 
Houses. — Franklin Avenue. — Kneeland. — Franklin. — Eiles and Gill. 

— Green and Russell. — ■ First Book and Newspaper printed in Boston. — 
Rufus Choate. — Governor Leverett. — John A. Andrew. — Henry Dun- 
ster. — To\vn Pump. — Old Brick. — General Knox. — Coimt Rimiford. 

— John Winslow. 

STANDING at the liead of Hanover Street, Ave are sensible 
that improvement lias ploughed a broad furrow through 
the North End. Away liefore us stretches a broad avenue, 
where once vehicles passed each other with difficulty. As the 
old street was, there were jdaces Avhere it was no great feat 
to jump across. This was the old highway from Winnisim- 
met Ferry to Treamount Street, first called Orange-Tree Lane, 
from the tavern at its head. Hanover Street extended at hrst 
only from Court to Blackstone Streets. Why this name, a per- 
petual remintlcH' of a dt'tested House, should have been re- 
tained, when t(),ueen retired before Court, and King succumbed 
to State, we cannot otherwise answer than by supj^osing the 
changes during the IieA'olution spasmodic, rather than syste- 
matic efforts of republicanism. 

As we look down tliis street, a little way on our left stands 
the American House. On the ground it covers lived that early 
martyr to American freedom, C!eneral Joseph Warren, who in 
17G-1:, after his marriage, t(jok up his I'esidence and the practice 
of medicine on this spot. He went to ]>rattle Street Church, 
near by. In 1774, while the "Boston Port Bill" was in oper- 
ation, there was a good deal of sull'ering in consequence of the 



FROM THE OnAXGE-TItER TO THE OLD BlilCK. GO 

closing of tho port, and at this time ('oloiu'l Putnam, Ixittor 
known as " Old l^it," came to Boston with a drove of sheep 
for tlie inliabitants, and was AVarren's gu(;st. 

It was Warren who causeil tlie alarm to he given of the 
British expetlition to Conc(n'd, by scniding Paul Ifevere on liis 
famous night ride, ami gave timely Avarning to Hancock and 
Adams. There are many stories of the manner of Warren's death 
at Bunker Hill, some of them highly colored. He was killed 
after the retreat began, a little way in the rear of the famous 
redoubt. General Howe, who knew Warren well, said his 
death was equal to tho loss of five hundred men. Colonel 
John Trumbull, who, when' in England in 1786, painted his 
])icture of the Battle of Bunker Hill, gives the following rela- 
tion of the fall of Warren by Colonel Small, who was on the 
field, and is represented by Trumbull endeavoring to save tho 
life of Warren : • — - 

" At the moment when the troops succeeded in carrying the 
redoubt, and the Americans were in full retreat, General Howe, 
who had been wounded by a spent ball, was leaning on my arm. 
He called suddenly to me, ' Do you see that elegant young man 
Avho has just fallen?' I looked to the spot to which he pointed. 
* Good God ! ' he exclaimed, ' I believe it is my friend Warren ; 
leave me then instantly, — run, — keep off the troops, — save him 
if possible ! ' I flew to the spot. ' My dear friend,' I said to him, 
' I hope you are not badly hurt.' He looked np, seemed to recol- 
lect, smiled, and died. A musket-ball had passed through the 
upper part of his head." 

The body lay on the field until the next day, Avhen it was 
recognized by Dr. Jeft'ries and John Winslow of Boston, and 
interred on the spot where he fell. General Howe's solicitnde 
does not seem to have extended to Warren's remains, which, 
however, received a soldier's burial. After the evacuation the 
body Avas disinterred and deposited in King's Chapel, and sub- 
sequently in St. Paul's, Tremont Street. The ball which killed 
Warren is now in possession of William H. INfontague of Boston. 
It is a common ounce musket-ball, and does not look at all 
flattened. It must ever appear unaccountable why General 
Ward, at Cambridge, did not attempt to recover the body of 



70 LANDMARKS OF BOSTON. 

the President of the Provincial Coiip,ress. Tlic usages of war 
must have l:)een well known to him, and Howe was not the man 
to refuse the request. 

Tlius died in " the imminent deadly hreach " the young hero 
at the early age of thirty-four. President of the Committee of 
Safety, of the Provincial Congress, and Major-General, he 
declined the command at Bunker Hill, taking the place of a 
common soldier. Deeply hui't hy the reflections cast upon the 
courage of his countrymen, he is said to have exclaimed, " I 
liope I shall die np to my knees in blood." To the remon- 
strances of liis friend, Elbridge Gerry, who begged him not to 
go to Bunker Hill, Warren replied, " Dalce et decorum est pro 
2Kdrla morij' 

Adjoining the American House on the Avest are Codman's 
Buildings, covering the ground where stood the famous Earl's 
Coflee House in bygone days. It Avas establivshed in 180G, and 
was the headquarters of the Xew York, Albany, and other mail 
coaches. 

" Go call a coach, and let a coach be called." 

On the north corner of Hanover Street was the Orange-Tree 
Tavern, whicli designated tlie northerly end of Treamount Street 
in 1732, and beginning of Hanover Street in 1708. It contin- 
ued a tavern initil 178r), when it was advertised to be sold. 
The name Avas from the sign of an orange-tree, and the inn Avas 
noted for the best Avell of Avater in the toAvn, — ncA^er dry nor 
knoAvn to freeze. Here Avas the first hackney-coach stand Ave 
have an account of, set np by Jonathan A\^ardwell, keeper of 
the Orange-Tree, in 1712. He Avas succeeded by ]\Irs. AVard- 
Avell, who kept the house in 1724. 

Concert Hall, of which a considerable moiety is now in the 
street, Avas on the southerly corner, and AA'as also a tavern, kept, 
in 1792, by James Vila. The site was first known as Houchin's 
Corner, from a tanner of that name Avho occupied it. The 
building Avas of brick, though it imderAvent A'arious alterations 
until torn doAvn in 1869, to make Avay for the Avidening of 
Hanover Street. Concert Hall Avas OAvned by the family cf 
Deblois until 1G79. Before the Revolution it Avas a resort of the 



FROM THE OllANGE-TItEE TO THE OLD BIHCK. 71 

Friends of Liberty, and as early as 1755, after tlio installation 
of Jeremy Gridiey as Grand JMaster of the ]\lasons in North 
America, it was used by the (irand Lodge for occasions of 
meeting or festivity, and continued to be so used until the 
present century. Here have met (Jridley, the Warrens, Kevere, 
Tomlinson, Oxnard, Webb, and others. Here Captain Preston 
was dallying on the evening of the fatal 5tli of JNIarch, 1770, 
when he was summoned in hot haste to begin the first act of 
the great conflict of the American lievolution. The American 
prisoners captured at Bunker Hill are said to have been tried 
by a military court in Concert Hall. In 17G8 the obnoxious 
Commissioners of Customs ventured to return from the Castle, 
while the town was under the control of the newly arrived 
British troops, and had an office here, Avith a sentinel at the 
door. And here came Samuel Adams and James Otis to re- 
monstrate Avith them. 

According to the "News Letter," concerts were held in tlie old 
hall as early as January, 1755, when "a concert of nuisick " 
was advertised to take place there, tickets at four shillings each. 
Governor Hancock gave, in 1778, a grand ball in Concert Hall 
to the officers of D'Estaing's fleet, at which three hundred i)er- 
sons were present. The Society of the Cincinnati also held 
meetings in this hall, and the JVIassachusetts ISIechanic Char- 
itable Association had their first meetings therein. Peter B. 
Brigham was for about forty years mine host of Concert Hall. 

A Httle east of Concert Hall on Hanover Street lived William 
Cooper, Town Clerk of Boston for nearly half a century. His 
term embraced the Revolutionary period, during whicli he was 
an ardent friend of the Whig cause. He was a brother of the 
patriotic pastor of Old Brattle Street Chiu'ch. 

Brattle Street was opened in 1819, from Court Street to the 
Church. Before this it was a narrow way, known first as Hil- 
lier's Lane, and sometimes as Belknap's, and as Gay Alley. 
Looking towards the ruins of the old church we notice, on the 
north side of the street, a continuous row of fourteen buildings, 
uniform in their general appearance. Tlus was the first block 
of stone buildings erected in Boston. 



72 LANDMARKS OF BOSTON. 

At the head of Ih'attlc Street lived Samuel (!ore, elder l)rother 
of Christopher, afterwards governor of the Commonwealth. 
Gore was a painter, and was one of those stoutdiearted mechanics 
who furnished the muscle of the IJi'volution while Adams and 
Otis supplied the brain. One of the Tea Party of 1773, Gore 
was one of those who seized the two brass guns, Hancock and 
Adams, from the gundiouse in Tremont Street, and conveyed 
them to the American lines under the very eyes of the British. 
These two guns are now in Bunker Hill JNIonument. 

The celebrated Scotch jiainter, John Smibert, owned and 
occupied the premises between Brattle Street and Cornhill in 
1743, having ac(|uired jiart through his marriage with ]\[ary 
AVilliams of Bostwi, and part Ijy purchase. The biogra})hers 
have but little to say about this i)ioneer of the line arts in 
America. He was before West or Copley, and is said to have 
iniluenced the works of the latter, as well as those of Allston 
and Trund)ull. 

Smibert must have had a large and lucrative custom, for he was 
possessed of property in Boston and lioxbury, which he bought 
from time to time, and at his decease left in his studio thirty- 
iive portraits, valued by the appraisers at £ GO 5s. Sd. Thirteen 
"landskips" were estimated at the moderate sum of .£2 IS.s-., 
while four historical pieces, " and pictures in that taste," were 
considered worth £ 16. Two conversation pictures, whatever 
they may ha^'e been, were thought worth £ 23 Gs. Sif. His 
negro girl, Phillis, went for £2Q 13s. 4c/. He ke})t his horses 
and chaise, in which he used to take his wife, Mary Smibert, to 
Lynde Street Church to hear good Dr. Hooper. 

Smibert came over to America in 1728 with the Dean, after- 
wards Bishop Berkeley, settling in Boston in 1730. The largest 
known work of Smibert's in this country is his picture of 
]>erkeley and family, in which the portrait of the artist is intro- 
duced. This painting is now in the possession of Yale College. 
His portrait of Jonathan Edwards is said to be the only one 
extant of that learned and eminent divine. 

Nathaniel Smibert, son of John, took up the profession of 
his father. He went to the Latin School, under Master Lovell, 



FROM THE ORANGE-TREE TO THE OLD BRICK. 73 

in liis early youth, but soon turned to liis father's brush and 
easel, with the promise of making a finished artist, but died at 
the early age of twenty-one, deeply regretted l)y all who knew 
him. 

Colonel John Trumbidl, aide-de-camp to Washington during 
the siege, retired in disgust from the service in 1777, on account 
of the date of an appointment to the rank of colonel, by Gates, 
being rejected by Congress. He then resumed his study of 
jiainting in Boston, amidst the works of Copley, and in the 
room Avhich had been built by Smibert, and in^ which remainetl 
many of his works. Governor Hancock sat for his portrait to 
Trumbull while the latter was in Boston. Hancock was presi- 
dent of the Congress which ignored Trumbull's rank, and had 
also spoken rather slightly of his family being well cared for by 
the government, on seeing the latter at the headcpiarters of 
"Washington. Trumbidl was stung by the ungenerous remark, 
and when, after having served as a volunteer in the expedition 
to Rhode Island in 1778, he fell- ill on his return, he at iirst re- 
pelled the advances of Governor Hancock, Avho, by considerate 
attentions, repaired his original ofience. Trundjull Avas a histor- 
ical painter. The Trumbidl Gallery at Yale contains iifty-seven 
pictures by him. An engraved likeness of CJovernor Yale, for 
whom tlie college was named, is one of the first you see on 
entering the gallery. The following is his epitaph in the 
churcliyard at Wrexham : — 

" Born in America, in Europe lired, 
In Africa travel'd, and in Asia wed, 
Where long he lived and tlirived ; at London dead. 
INIucli Good, some III he did ; so hope all 's even, 
And that his soul through Mercy 's gone to heaven." 

Tmmbull exhibited, in 1818, in Faneuil Hall, his picture of 
the Declaration of Inde})endence, and the venerable John Adams 
was j)rcvailed upon to visit it. He approved the picture ; and, 
pointing to the door next the cliair of Hancock, said, " There, 
that is the door out of which Washington rushed when I first 
alluded to him as the man best cpialified for Cummander-i]i- 
Chief of the American Army." * 

* Miss Quincy's Memoir. 
4 



74 LANDMARKS OF BOSTON. 

Colonsl Trumbuir.s liistoiical paintin,ii;s in the rotunda of the 
Capitol at AVashington have gained him a world-wide reputa- 
tion ; his " Sortie from Gil)raltar" is now in tlie Boston Atlie- 
lux'Uin. He was a fcllow-studcut with Stuart, under AVest. 

The paint-room of the Smiberts and of Trumbull continued 
to be improved by various artists of lesser note until 1785. At 
this time Mrs. Shealfe occupied the aljode of the Smiberts as a 
boarding-house. This lady has acquired celebrity through her 
children. In those days painters sometimes styled themselves 
limners. One of j\Irs. Sheaiie's ])oarders varied the monotony 
of portrait painting by doing hair-work in the neatest manner. 
Part of the Smibert estate went to make the present iirattlc 
Street. 

This locality, after having served tlie ^^ew England I\Iuseum, 
was, in course of time, appro5)riated by the Adelphi Theatre. 
John Brougham was, in 18-17, associated with Mr. Bland as 
iiianager, with Mrs. Brougham and Mr. Whiting in the corps 
dramatique. The Adelphi Avas a side-splitting aifair, defying 
the conventionalities of the modern stage. An open bar stood 
in the rear of the auditorium, to wliich the audience vvT;re in- 
vited to repair upon the falling of the curtain. 

One of the greatest changes that has occurred in Boston is 
the transformation of the over-crowded thoroughfares around 
what was known as " Scollay's Buildings " into tlie sjiacious, 
pleasant area we now call Scollay Square. All of the original 
is gone except the distinctive appellation, and what lias existed 
in some form for two centuries has vanished 

" Like the baseless faliric of a vision." 

The Scollays were Scoteh, from the Orkneys. John Scollay 
is mentioned, in 1G1)2, as lessee of Winnisimmet Ferry. An- 
other John Scollay, of the Bcvolutionary period, Avas a man of 
considerable note in Boston. He was one of the first Fire- 
Wards of tlie town, and a selectman during the siege. His son, 
William, is the one for whom tlie buildings and square were 
named. The name, however, and his pro])rietorsliip only date 
back t(j aljout 1800. Williaui Scoll;.y Avas a commander of 
the Cadets, an apothecary at Xo. Old Coriihill, and resided 



FROM THE ORAXGE-TREE TO THE OLD BRICK. 75 

on the site of tlio ]\Iusi3uni in Tremout Street. He was promi- 
nently identified with Charles Eullinch and others in the im- 
provement of Franklin kStreet. 

A long row of wooden buildings at one time extended from 
the head of Cornhill to nearly opposite the head of Hanover 
Street. Both ends of this wedge-shaped range of houses, "with 
the point towards Hanover Street, were cut off at various times, 
leaving only the brick structure of Scollay, lately removed. 
Scollay's Building was supposed to have been erected by Patrick 
Jeffrey, who came into possession in 1795. Neither age nor 
incident render the building an object of special interest. 

Opposite to where Cornhdl now opens into Court Street was 
erected, in 1G83 - 84, the second schoohhouse in the town. The 
first being styled the Latin School, this was termed the Free 
Writing School. It is clearly mentioned in 1 G9 7, and continued 
to be used until 1793, when it became private property, the 
school — then known as the Centre heading and Writing 
School — being removed to School Street. The first master 
here Avas Samuel Cole. 

The preamble to the fu'st law establishing schools reads 
thus : — 

" It being one chief project of Satan to keep men from the knowl- 
edge of the Scriptures, as in ibrnier times keeping them in unknown 
tongues ; to the end, therefore, that leai-ning may not be buried in 
the gra^'es of oiu- forefathers, in church and Conunonwealtli, it is 
enacted," etc. 

The school-house is brought into notice in 1744, by a some- 
what curious affair. It appears that Captain W. IVIontague, 
afterwards a British Admiral, came ashore from his ship, the 
frigate Eltham, then lying in Nantasket Roads, and, accom- 
])anied by a party from his vessel, indulged in a regular sailor's 
lark on shore. In the course of their rambles the party com- 
mitted some depredations on the school-house, for which war- 
rants were issued against some of the offenders. 

James Carter was the most famous of the masters of this old 
school. He was a pedagogue of an extin.'t type, and after a 
long term of service, continuing almost to the time of his death, 



7G LANDMARKS OF BOSTON. 

was buried Decemboi- 2, 1707. His house adjoined tlie scliool- 
liouse on the west. Turell's Museum once occupied the old 
school-house, part of which was removed upon the completion 
of Cornhill, to afford a free passage into Tremont Street. 

Green and Russell, one of the old printing houses of Boston, 
transacted business in an old l)uilding that stood on the site of 
ScoUay's, in 1755. Joseph Itussell, one of the partners, carried 
on the business of an auctioneer, in Avhich he was very success- 
ful, and became the owner of the property. William A^assall, 
a royalist refugee, in 177G, Avas the next projirietor, followed 
by Jeffrey. The Colonial Customdiouse stood very near this 
locahty in 1757, but we have been unable to discover its exact 
site. 

Cornhill owes its name, no doubt, originally, to its London 
prot()type. It is the second street A\-]iii'h has boi'ue the name 
in Doston, and was lii\st called INIarket Street, as it opened a 
new route to Faneuil Hall INIarkct. The stores erected iir this 
street were the iirst raised on granite jtillars in Unston. Uriah 
Clotting built the street in 1817. To his genius Loston owes a 
del)t n(jt yet suitably recognized. Mr. Cotting's remains lie 
beneath an humlJe tomb in Granary Burying-ground, but we 
may appropriately apply to him the epitaph of Sir Christoplier 
Wren : — 

" Reader, if tliou seekest his monument, look around." 

Opposite to us, now the i)remises of the Adams Express Com- 
pany, was the old Parsonage House of Brattle S(iuare Church, 
given to it by ]\Irs. Lydia Hancock in 17G5. She was the wife 
of Thomas Hancock (uncle of the patriot), and resided in the 
old house, as also did her father. Colonel iJaniel Henchman, 
grandson of the old hidian lighter. Henchman was a liook- 
seller and bookbinder, and Thomas Hancock served his time 
Avith liim. Colonel Henchman established the first paper-mill 
in the colony, at INIilton. Since their day it Avas the residence 
t)f the pastors of the church, — last, that of Dr. Lothrop. 
This house has been noted as one of the dAvelling-places of 
James Otis. 

The Old Prison stood on the spot Avhere noAV the massive 



FROM THE ORANGE-TREE TO THE OLD BRICK. 77 

granite Court House is placed. From it the street Avas very 
early named Prison Lane, changed to Queen Street in 1708, 
and to Court in 1784. AVhat the Old Prison was like is left to 
conjecture, but we will let an old master of the imaginative art 
describe it : " The rust on the ponderous iron-work of its oaken 
door looked more anticpio than anything else in tlie New 
"World. Like all that pertains to crime, it seemed never to 
have known a youthful era." The fancy of Hawthorne in 
locating a blooming rose-bush on the grass-plot beside the 
prison door is striking. Here were confined the victuns of the 
terrible witchcraft delusion. 

" Wlio is lie ? one tliat for lack of laud 
Shall figlit upon the water." 

This heavy oaken door stood between the notorious pirate, Wil- 
liam Kidd, and liberty. He arrived in Boston in June, 1G99, 
with his sloop, and was examined before the Earl of Bellomont 
and the Council of the province. On the 6th of June Kidd 
was seized and committed to prison with several of his crew, 
and his vessel taken possession of. When arrested, Kidd 
attempted to draw his sword and defend himself. By order of 
the king, he was sent to England in a frigate, and arrived in 
London April 11, 1700. He was examined before the Admi- 
ralty, and afterwards before the House of Lords, where great 
efforts were made to implicate the Earl of Bellomont and other 
of the lords in Kidd's transactions. The pirate, after a long 
confinement, was finally hung at Execution Dock. lie died 
hard. The rope broke the first time he was tied up, and he 
fell to the ground ; a second trial proved more successful. 

It has been claimed that Kidd was not a pirate. He was an 
officer in the British navy prior to 1091^ married in this coun- 
try, and had commanded a merchant sliip owned by llobert 
Livmgstone, a wealthy New York merchant. When, in 1G95, 
the coast of New England was infested with pirates, Living- 
stone proposed to the Earl of Bellomont to employ Ividd to 
go in pursuit of them, and offered to share the expense of 
fitting out a vessel. Application was made to the home gov- 
ernment for a thirty-gun ship, and a commission for Kidd for 



78 LANDMARKS OF BOSTOX. 

this purpose; but, the government being then unable to furnish 
a vessel, the Earl of Bclloinont, Lords Halifax, Somers, Ilom- 
ney, Oxford, and others contrilnited, with Livingstone, to fit 
Kidd out in the Adventure Galley. He received a commis- 
sion from the Court of Admiralty in December, 1695, author- 
izing him to cruise against the king's enemies. 

Once at sea, Kidd turned ])irate, reversing the adage " Set a 
rogue to catch a rogue," and made several captures ; but his ex- 
ploits preceded him,' and on his return to ISTew England he was 
arrested. The search after the pirate's hidden treasure has 
contimied ever since. A pot of dollars was dug up in 1790 
on Long Island, supposed to have been Kidd's. The fate of 
the freebooter has often been lamented in the melancholy 

ditty, — 

" Jly name was Captain Kidd, as I sailed," etc. 

The Old Prison, ugly and uncouth, gave place to a new in 
17G7, designed by Governor Bernard. This was, two years later, 
destroyed by fire, the prisoners being Avith dihiculty rescued ; 
some of them were badly burned.''' The site was then appro- 
priated by a Court House built of brick, about the licvolution- 
ary period, three stories high, Avith a cupola and bell. Before 
the erection of the County Court House (City Hall), in 1810, 
this building Avas used by all the courts of law held in the 
county. 

At this time the County Jail Avas in an old stone Inulding 
situated betAveen the Old Court House, just described, and the 
Xew. On the ground Avher<^ it stootl Avas formerly an old 
Avooden building called the L)el)tor's Jail. The County Jail 
and INlunicipal Court House Avere, in 1822, situated in Lcv- 
erett Street. 

In 18.51 the keys of the Old Prison in Court Street Avere 
found under the ollice of tlic Leverett Street jail, Avhere they 
liad lain since 1823. Tliey were three in number; Avere from 
twelve to eighteen inches in length, and of a most primitiA'c 
construction. Tlie keys Aveighed I'rom one to three pounds 
each, and Avhen attached t(j the jailer's girdle, must liaA'e been 

* Drake's History of Boston. 



FROM THE ouan(.;k-ti;ec to the old iuhck. 



70 



"weighty arguments t(j lii.s wards. These keys, -when found, 
were over a lumdred years old. "What a tale they could tell ! 

In September, 1833, the corner-stone of the present Court 
House was laid, and it was com])leted in 1836. The building 
is massive and unattractive. "Within its granite walls the fugi- 
tive slave cases were tried, and here also Professor John "W. 
Webster received the death sentence for the murder of Dr. 
Parkman. 

The little alley which enters Court Street opposite the east- 
erly side of Court S(]uare is not unknown to fame. It is to- 
day Franklin Avenue, but has been 
Dassett's, or Dorsett's Alley, and in 
1722 was a part of Brattle Street. 
Daniel "Webster's first otlice was on 
the northerly corner of this alley. 
On the corner where now stands tlie 
Advertiser building Samuel Knee- 
land began the printing l)usines3 
in 1718, in quite another fashion. 
Thomas, in his History of Printing, 
says : — 




OLD PRINTING-PRESS. 



"William Brooker, being appointed 
Postmaster of Boston, he, on ]\Ionday, 
December 21, 1719, began the publication of another newspaper in 
that place. This was the second published in the British Colonies, 
in North America, and was entitled ' The Boston Gazette.' James 
Franklin was originally employed as printer of this paiier ; but in 
two or three months after the publication commenced Philip Mus- 
grave was a])])ointed Postmaster, and became proprietor of it. He 
took the printing of it from Franklin, and gave it to Kneeland. 
Kneeland also puWished here, in 1727, ' The New England J(jur- 
nal.' He occupied the otlice for about forty yeai's." 

This is also the location assigned James Franklin, the brother 
of Benjamin, Avho, as we have mentioned, printed "The Boston 
Gazette," on INlonday, December 21, 1719. He began, August 
6, 1721, the ]:)ublication of "The New England Courant," the 
third newspaper in the town. It was, like the other papers. 



80 LANDMAIiKS OF BOSTON. 

printed on a half-slicet of foolscap, and, being of a inoro pro- 
gressive cast than the others, soon fell under tlie ban of rigid 
l*uritans like llov. Increase Mather. The first nnniher of this 
paj'M'r, made famous hy Jjenjaiuin Franklin's connection with it, 
has been reprinteil, and the whole contents might easily be 
contained in a single column of one of oiu- present journals. 
Two very primitive woodcuts, one representing a war shij) 
under full sail, the other a i^ostnian galloping over a village, 
adorn the pages. 

Benjamin became his brother's apprentice at the age of twelve, 
in 1718. He soon bogan to write clandestinely for the paper, 
and thrust his productions fui^tively under the oillce door. But 
his essays were approved and printed. In 1723, James Frank- 
lin being forbidden to publish the Courant, it was issued under 
the name of his younger brother", and bore the imprint, " Boston, 
printed and sold by Benjamin Franklin, in Queen-Street, where 
advertisements are taken in." 

Benjamin Franklin remained but a short time with his 
brother after this. The old press on Avliich he worked is in 
the jiossession of Major Poore, of West Xewbury, Mass., vsdio 
obtained it of Isaiah Thomas's heirs. It bears no date, and is 
old enough to l)e located at any time since printing began, 
without danger of dis[)ute. Major Poore is confiden.t of th;>. 
authenticity of tliis press, tracing it by Thomas to tlie office of 
James Franklin. The building, interestin;^ liy its association 
with the early history of printing in Boston, became a book- 
store, ornamented Avith a head of Franklin, and disappeared 
more than iifty years ago. The amusing rcucoiitre of Franklin 
Avith his future Avife, Miss Peed, of Philadelphia, Avill always 
exeite a smile. 

The house Avas oc(!upied for eighty years as a printing-house, 
by Kneeland and others. In 17G0 it became the office of Fdes 
and (lid, avIio cnntinucd there until li(.)stilities commenced, in 
177G. Edes and Gill printed a copy of the " Htamp Act," in 
a pa m})hlet of twenty-four pages. They also publislied "The 
Boston (Jazette and Ci>untry -bturnal," a successor of the Cia- 
zette of Franklin, Kneeland, etc., which had been discontinued. 



FROM THE OUAXGE-TREE TO THE OLD ERICK. 



81 




Edes and Gill, when they printed the Stamp Act, occupied 
j^remises on the south side of Court Street, about on the pres- 
ent site of the Adams Express Co. In their back office, on the 
old corner, the council for the destruction of the tea was held, 
of which Samuel Adams was the master spirit. The Gazette, 
under the control of Edes and Gill, was 
the paper in which Adams, Otis, Warren, 
Qiiincy, and other leaders of popular feel- 
ing, wrote, and became conspicuous for its 
able political articles. We present two speci- 
mens of the renowned British Stamps. 

Over the printing-office was a long room 
in which were woiit to meet the active pa- 
triots. They took the name of the Long 
lioom Club. Samuel Adams was the leader. 
Samuel Dexter, William Cooper, town clerk, Dr. Cooper, War- 
ren, Church, Josiah (^uincy, Jr., Thomas Dawes, Samuel Phil- 
lips, Eoyal Tyler, Paul Pevere, Thomas Fleet, John Winslow, 
Thomas INIelvill, and some others, were members. In this 
room were matured most of the plans 
for resistance to British usurpation, 
from the Stamp Act to the formation 
of the ProAdncial Congress at Water- 
town. 

After the avenues from the town 
were closed liy General Gage, Edes 
made his escape by night, in a boat, 
with a press and a few types, witli 
Avhich he opened an office in AVater- 
town, and printed for the Provincial 
Congress of Massachusetts. John Gill, his partner, remained 
in Boston and was imprisoned for ])rinting treason, sedition, 
and rebellion. Green and Russell, in 1758, became occupants 
of the corner, and printed the "Weekly Advertiser" therein, 
Avhich may be considered the progenitor of the present journal 
of that name. 

Court Street was long the headquarters of the newspaper 
4* F 







82 LANDMARKS OF BOSTON. 

press. During exciting political controversies abuse sometimes 
■waxed warm. In the language of a writer at the beginning of 
the present century, — 

" Press answers press ; retorting slander flics, 
And Court Street rivals Billingsgate in lies." 

The first book printed in Boston was an election sermon 
preached to Governor John Leverett, the Council, and Deputies 
of the Colony, May 3, 1G76. It was a small (piarto pamphlet 
of sixty-three pages. John Foster was the printer. 

The first regular newspaper was the " News Letter," issued 
April 24, 1704-, by John Camjibell, Postmaster of Boston at 
that time. Bartholomew Green was the printer. Green con- 
tinued to print it until the close of 1707. The building in 
which the jS^ews Letter was printed stood very near the east 
corner of Avon Street, on "Washington. 

Tudor's Buildings arc named from Colonel William Tudor, 
who lived on the site. He Avas a member of the old Boston Bar, 
having studied with John Adams. He was colonel and judge- 
advocatc-general in the Revolutionary army, on the stalf of 
Washington. Colonel Tudor Avas also a member of the Massa- 
chusetts House and Senate, Secretary of State 1809-10, and 
one of the founders of the Historical Society. Fisher Ames, 
Judge Parker, afterwards Chief Justice, and Josiah Quincy, 
studied law with him. 

It is related that Colonel Tudor was once presented at the 
court of George III. by our amliassador, Bufus King. His 
INIajesty catching the name, ejaculated in his disjointed Avay : 
" Ell ! Avhat, what, Tudor, Tudor, ■ — one of us, eh 1 " 

liufus Clioate, who as an advocate left no successor at the 
Boston Ixir, had an office in the gloomy granite block that for- 
merly stood beloAV the Court House, on the site of the Sears 
Building. He had also, for a time, an ofiice on Tremont Bow. 
Choate came to Boston in 1834, after having studied law in 
the ofiice of William W^irt at AVashington. He Avas not long 
in taking the ])lace left A'acant by ]Mr. Webster. 

Besides pathos, Avhich he could bring to liear Avith over- 
whelming ettect, Choate possessed a fine humor. It is said 



FllOM THE ORANGE-TREK TO THE OLD BRICK. 83 

that, coming into court one day to hear a decision against him 
from Chief Justice Shaw, who was by no means a handsome 
man, Choate addressed his Honor in these words : " In coming 
into tlic presence of your Honor I experience the same feelings 
that the Hindoo does when he hows before his idol, • — I know 
that you are ugly, but I feel that you are great." * 

]\tr. Choatc's face possessed great mobility, and his voice Avas 
capable of the most varied modulation. AVlien pleading a crim- 
inal cause he held court, jury, and avulitory alike in a spell, 
and seldom failed to SAvay the jury by his eloquence. He had 
the magnetism of a natural orator, and could make his auditors 
weep or laugh at will. JMr, Choate held the offices of State 
representative and senator ; was elected to Congress from the 
Essex district ; and succeeded Webster in the Senate in 1841. 
In 1853 he was attorney-general of Massachusetts and a mem- 
ber of the Constitutional Convention. He retired from prac- 
tice in 1 858, on account of foiling health, and died in Halifax 
in 1859, while en route to Europe. He was sixty years old 
when this event occurred. 

Where now stands the stately Sears Building was once the 
habitation of Governor John Leverett, during whose adminis- 
tration occiu-red King Phili[)'s war. Leverett went to England 
in 1644, and served under Cromwell, 

" From Edge-Hill Fight to Marstoii Moor." 

Charles II. made Leverett a kniglit, — a title which he never 
assumed. Eew names connected Avith the colony are more 
honorable than Governor Leverett's. He commanded the An- 
cient and Honorable Artillery ; was agent of the colony in 
England ; on terms of intimacy with the Protector, major-gen- 
eral, and dep.uty-governor. He died in 1679. Governor Lev- 
erett's house was afterwards in State Street, next east of the 
present Exchange. Before the adoption of the Federal Consti- 
tution the post-office Avas located on this corner. In the build- 
ing lately taken doAvn Avas once the laAv office of John A. An- 
drcAA', a man Avhose memory is Avarmly cherished by the soldiers 
of Massachusetts in the Kebellion, Avho gave him the name of 

the Avar goA'ernor. 

* Bcncli and Bar. 



8-4 LAXD.MAKKS OF BOSTON. 

On the northeast corner of Court and Washnigton Streets 
was the estate of Henry Dunster, first piesich'nt of Harvard 
College. Here also stood the Town Pump, yielding its cooling 
fluid to our thirsty ancestors, or drenching some maudlin va- 
grant of the kennel. Here is Hawthorne's invocation from the 
Town Pump to the passers-by : — • 

" Like a dramseller on the Mall at mu.ster-day, I cry aloud to all 
and suu<lrv, in my plainest accents, and at the very tipt(,)p of my 
voice : Here it is, gentlemen ! Here is the good lic^uor ! Walk 
up, walk up, geiitlemcn, walk up, walk up ! Here is the supericir 
stuff ! liere is the unadulterated ale of Father Adam, — better 
than Cognac, Hollands, Jamaica, strong beer, or wine of any price ; 
here it is by the hogshead or single glass, and not a cent to pay ! 
Walk up, gentlemen, ^\■alk up, and help yourselves ! " 

Pul)lic notices and proclamations were affixed to the Town 
Pump. 

A little south of the Sears estate is Joy's Puilding, around 
which is a vacant s[)ace noAV known as Cornhill Court and 
Court Avenue, once Cornliill S(piare. 

Tliis is tlie site of the second location of the First Church 

of Boston, removed from 

State Street in 1G40, In 

1808 the society sold this 

: j - - site to Benjamin Joy, on 

~ - ■% ^- Avhich he erected the })resent 

^- . structure, and the church 

-f Avas removed to Chauncy 

; . 3;^.^^,5^ Street. Prom the church 

''■--' '' ' ^^ B t lilf i t tlio sp^^f^e around it took 
j; ; : ■ • 1. '" :-( -r >i 's -;.■..- ^.S= t li c uaui c of Ch u rcli S ( puirc. 
;,a'',: , ,_;% The old nieeting-honse was 

^S-*' ' . !' '■ _, ' I'p of wood, but after standing 

"^^^^iir??-- -'" ^' ' ---ais^s:^^— r-^ seventy-one years, was de- 
'"^^- '■ ~=ir>?-2i'= stroyed by the great lire of 

..LD ni:i. K ciirRcii. 1711, and Avas then rebuilt 

of brick. After the building of the Second Church in Hano- 
ver Street this house took the name of the " Did Brick." It 



FROM THE OEANGE-TKEE TO THE OLD BIHCK. 85 

•\vas of three stories and decorated witli a bell-tower and clock. 
This clock was, without doubt, the lirst placed in any public 
position in the town. The records show that in 171G- 17 the 
town voted to obtain a town clock to l)e set up in some conven- 
ient place in Cornhill. Before this the bells were called clocks. 
The bell of the Old Brick sounded the alarm on the evening of 
the Massacre of March 5, 1770. 

On the corner of State Street, nearly opposite the Old Brick, 
was the bookstore of Daniel Henchman, and later tliat of Whar- 
ton and Bowes. In this shop Henry Knox, afterwards one of 
the most famous generals of the lievolutionary army, was an 
apprentice. Here he acquired, by reading, the ruiliments of the 
military art. The store was the resort of the British ofhcers, 
who were very friendly \\dth the future general. At eighteen 
K^nox was lieutenant of the grenadier company of the Boston 
Eegiment, — a company distinguished for its martial appearance 
and the precision of its evolutions. He was one of the watch 
on board the tea ship before it Avas destroyed, and Ijy his prox- 
imity was early at the scene of the Massacre in King Street, 
In Knox's account of this ailair he said, " Captain Preston 
seemed much agitated. Knox took him by the coat and told 
him, ' for God's sake to take his men back again, for if they 
fired, his life must answer for the consequences.' While I was 
talking with Captain Preston the soldiers of his detachment 
had attacked the people with their bayonets. There was not 
the least provocation given to Captain Preston or his party." 
Knox, after serving his time, published for himself. " A Dis- 
sertation on the Gout," etc., bears his imprint in 1772. 

After Lexington Knox escaped with his wife from Boston ; 
IVIrs. Knox concealing within the lining of her cloak the sword 
he subsequently wore through the war. She accompanied her 
husband through all his campaigns. The JNIan^uis Chastelhix, 
who visited the headquarters of the American army in 1782, 
says : " We found JNIrs. Knox settled in a little farm where she 
had passed part of the campaign ; for she never quits her hus- 
band. A child of six months and little girl of three years old 
formed a real Himily for the general. As for himself, he is be- 



86 LAXDMAliKS OF BOSTON. 

tween tliirty and forty, very fat, hut very active, and of a gay 
and amialile character. From the very lirst campaign he was 
intrusted Aviih tlie command of the artillery, and it has turned 
out it could not have been placed in better hands. It was ho 
whom ]\r. du Ctiudray endeavored to su|)})lant, and who had no 
difficulty in removing liiin. It was fortunate for jVI. du Cou- 
dray, perluips, tliat he was drowntul in the Schuylkill, rather 
than be swallowed up in the intrigues he was engaged in." 

Knox's corpulency was the subject of an ill-timed pun fr. in 
Dr. I^ylcs. An intimacy existed before the war, and when, on 
the day Boston Avas evacuated, Knox marched in at the head of 
his artillery, the doctor audiljly remarked, "I never saw an 
ox fatter in my life." Knox did not relish the joke from the 
old tory, and told I)r. Byles he Avas a " fool." 

The graduate of the little shop in Cornhill Avas volunteer aid 
at Bunker Hill, commanded the artillery during the siege of 
P>ost()n, and became Secretary of War. His greatest service, 
perhaps, Avas the bringing of more than lifty cannon, mortars, 
and hoAvitzers from Ticonderoga, CroAvn Point, etc., to the lines 
before Boston. This feat Avas accomplished early in 1776, the 
ordnance being dragged on sledges in miilwinter almost through 
a Avilderness. 

Knox AA^as a generous, high-minded man. His portrait, by 
Gilbert Stuart, hangs in Faneuil Hall. A gunning accident 
having injured one of his hands, it is concealed in the ])icture. 

The celebrated Benjamin Thompson, a natiA'e of '\\'oburn, 
afterwards a count of the German Empire, Avas, like Knox, an 
apprentice to a shopkeeper in Boston at the time of the ]\Ias- 
sa(;re. He Avas at the American lines in Cambridge at the time 
of Buid-cer Hill, and accompanied IMajor, afterAvards GoA'crnor 
Brooks until they met the retreating Americans. After endeaA^- 
oring unsuccessfully to obtain a commission in the Continental 
army, he turned loyalist. He Avas sent to England by General 
HoAve after the fall of J'.ostoTi, but retm-ned to America and 
raised a regiment (^f horse, called the " King's Dragoons." 

After the war he was knighted, and became Sir Benjamin 
Thompson. The Elector of Bavaria, Avhose service he entered 



FROM THE ORANGE-TREE TO THE OLD BRICK. 87 

in 1784, made liim a count, Avith the title of Count Kumford, 
that being the ancient name of Concord, JN^. H., wliere Thomp- 
son liad formerly resided. liumford went afterwards to Paris, 
and married the widow of the celebrated Lavoisier, from whom, 
however, he afterwards separated. 

The Eumford Professorship at Harvard testifies to the remem- 
brance of this distinguislied man for his native country. He 
left a munificent bequest to the College for the advancement of 
the physical and mathematical sciences. 

John Winslow, one of Knox's compatriots, and a captain in 
Crane's Artillery during the Eevolutionary War, Avas a hardware 
merchant with his uncle, Jonathan Mason, at No. 12 Corn- 
hill, just south of the present Globe newspaper office. He 
remamed in Boston during the siege, and bvuied the Old South 
communion plate in his uncle's cellar ; his uncle was deacon of 
tliat church. It was Winslow who recognized the body of 
Warren, the day after the battle of Bunker Hill. He Avas at 
Ticonderoga, Saratoga, and AVhite Plains, and held a numl)er 
of State offices after the Avar. WinsloAV lived in Purchase 
Street, just north of the Sailors' Home. 



88 la^T).mai;ks of bostox. 



CHAPTER III. 

. FROM THE OLD STATE HOUSE TO BOSTON PIER. 

Captain Kcajnie. — C'ogsaii, iirst Shopkeeper. — OM Cornliill. — Old State 
House. — First Church. — Stocks and Wliipping-Fcst. — John Wilson. — 
Wil.son's Lane. — United States Bank. — Royal Exchange Tavern. — 
William Sheaire. — Royal Custom House. — Exchange Coffee House. — 
"Columbian Centinel." — Benjamin Russell. — Louis Philijipe. — Louis 
Napoleon. — Congress Street. — Governors Dumnier and Belcher. — First 
LTnited States Custom House. — Post-OfTice. — Bimch of Grajies. — General 
Lincoln. — General Dearborn. — First Cii'culating Library. — British Coitee 
House. — Merchants' Row. — First Inn. — Lord Ley. — Miantonimoh. — 
Kilby Street. — Oliver's Dock. — Liberty Sipiare. — The Stamp Office. — ■ 
Broad Street. — Commodore Downes. — Broad Street Riot. — India Street 
and Wharf. — Admiral Vernon. — Crown Coffee House. — Butler's Row. 

— Tlie Custom House. — Retrospective View of State Street. — Long Wharf. 

— The Barricado. — T Wharf. —Embarkation for Bmiker Hill. 

THE earliest settler on the soiithwestern corner of State Street 
was Captiiin Iioliert lveayn(\ who has left his name to us 
in connection with a legacy to l)uil(l a Town House. He was 
also the first commander of the Ancient and Honorable Artil- 
lery, and was liy Inisiness a tailor. Captain Keayno fell under 
tlie censure of court and church for selling his wares at exorbi- 
tant }irolits, — we have before mentioned that the authorities 
regulated the prices of goods, products, etc. His will, of nearly 
two Imndred pages, is devoted largely to an eifort to relieve 
himself of this charge. "What would "Washington Street say 
to-day t(j such a regulation 1 

Tlie opposite or northwest corner of State Street was occu- 
])ied by John Coggan, one of the names in the original Book 
of Possessions. He has the distinction of establishing the first 
shop for the sale of merchandise in Boston. From this small 
beginning dates tlie tirdfic of Boston. 

Having crossed ancient Coruhill, which name applied to that 



FROM THE OLD STATE IlOl'SE TO BOSTON I'lEK. 



80 




OLD bTATE HoLSt; IN IT'Jl. 



part of Washington Street 
from Dock Square to 
Scliool Street, and in 
Avhich congregated the 
early booksellers, Ave are 
at the head of old King 
Street. Before ns is the 
earliest market-place of 
the town, on the space 
now occupied by the Old 
State House. King Street 
was changed to State in 
1784, but it was frequent- 
ly called Congress Street 
before the present name was settled on. 

"And mark, not far from Faneuil's honored side. 
Where tlie Old State House rises in its pride. 
But, 0, how clianged ! its lialls, alas ! are tied, 
And shop and ofKce fill their slighted stead." 

The early history of this edifice has been given in connec- 
tion with the City Hall, as its progenitor. Besides being used 
as a Town House and by the Colonial Courts, it has been occu- 
})ied by the General Court of the Colony and of the State, by 
the Council of the Provinces, and as a barrack for troops. It 
was the first Exchange the merchants of Boston ever had, and 
is still used for a similar purpose. In it met the Convention 
to ratify the Constitution of the United States before adjourn- 
ing to Federal Street Church. In the west end was located 
the Post-Office, in its beginning, and again in 1838, Avhen a 
force of fifteen clerks was sufficient for the transaction of its 
business. In 1832 it was again slightly damaged l»y fire. 

Under its shadow the Massacre was enacted by a detachment 
of the 29th British Regiment, the result of constant collisions 
between the people and the soldiery. At the time of its occu- 
pation by the British troops, — admitted by Governor Bernard 
in 17G8, — James Otis moved to have the Superior Court ludd 
in Paneuil Hall, " not only as the stench occasioned by the 



90 LANDMARKS OF BOSTON. 

troops may prove infectious, but as it was dero;-;atory to the 
honor of the court to admiuister justice at tlie in(juths of can- 
non and the points of bayonets." This referred to tlie estab- 
lishment of the main-guard opposite, witli two field-pieces 
pointed toward tlie (_)ld State House. 

Tlie following was the interior arrangement of the buihling 
after the fire of 17-47. The eastern chamber Avas originally 
occupied by the Council, afterwards by the Senate. The Rep- 
resentatives held their sittings in the Avest chamber. The 
floor of these was supported by }»illars, and terminated at each 
end by doors, and at the east end by a flight of steps leading 
into State Street. On the north side were offices for the clerks 
of the supreme and ini'mnor courts. In the daytime the doors 
Avere kept open, and the floor served as a Avalk for the inhabi- 
tants Avho thronged it during the sessions of the courts. After 
the removal of the Legislature to the new State House the 
internal arrangenient Avas changed to suit later occupants. 

In the Chamber of Iiepresentatives, according to John Adams, 
" Independence Avas born " and the struggle against the en- 
croachments of the mother country sustained for fourteen years 
by the Adamses, Bowdoins, Thachers, Hancocks, (j)uincys, and 
their illustrious colleagues. According to Hutchinson, in this 
chamber originated the most important measures Avhicli led to 
the emancipation of the Colonies, — Avith those giants avIio, 
staking life and fortune winm the issue, adopted for their 
motto, 

" Let sncli, sncli only, tread this sacred floor, 
Who dare to love their country, and be poor." 

It Avas customary to read the commissions of the royal gov- 
ern! irs in presence of the court, attended by military display, 
in the Court House, as it Avas tlien called. The news of the 
death of Ccorge 11., ami accession of Ceorge III., Avas read 
from the balcony ; the latter was the last crowned head pro- 
claimed in tlie (Atlonies. 

Till' popular indignation against the Stamp Act found vent, 
in 170(1, in burning stamped clearances in front of the Town 
House. A council of war was held by Gage, Howe, and (Tin- 



FROM THE OLD STATE HOUSE TO BOSTOX TIER. 91 

ton, here before Bunker Hill. On tlie 25th July, 1770, the. 
Declaration of Independence was read from the east Ijalcony 
by William Greenleaf, SherilF. All the Continental troojjs in 
the vicinity of Boston were paraded in State Street, and at its 
conclusion tired thirteen volleys commemorative of the thirteen 
Colonies. Here the Constitution of Massachusetts was planned. 
In 1778 Count D'Estaing made a splendid entry into Boston 
with his fleet, and was received by Governor Hancock in the 
Council Chandjer. 

After the Bevolution it became the place of meeting of the 
Legislature, and has been ever since called the Old State House, 
— except during the interval when it was the City Hall, — 
and this name is its customary appellation. In October, 1789, 
Washington received the homage of the people, from a tempo- 
rary balcony at the west end. A triumphal arch was tlu'own 
across the street there, and a long procession passed before him, 
whose salutations he occasionally returned. In January, 1798, 
the Legislature took possession of the new State House. 

The building has undergone material alterations, especially in 
the roof, which gives it a more modern appearance, and the stee- 
ple or tower was once considerably higher than at present. The 
sun-dial, which formerly ailorned the eastern gable, has been 
superseded by a clock ; the Lion and Unicorn once replaced the 
ornamental scrolls at citlier end. There have been a lottery 
office, engine-house, and even a newspaper published in the old 
building, — the latter printed in 1805, in the Senate Chamber, 
and called the "Eepertory." After the Grand Lodge of Masons 
was burnt out of the Exchange Coffee House it occupied quar- 
ters in the Old State House. At the great fire of 1711, by 
which it was destroyed, several gentlemen, at imminent risk of 
their lives, succeeded in saving the Queen's portrait from the 
flames. 

The old First Church of Boston was situated on the ground 
now covered by Brazer's Building, until its removal to another 
location. Here preached John Wilson and Jul in Cotton, and 
here came Winthrop and BeUingham, Avith their zealous Puri- 
tan followers, men 



92 



LANDMARKS OF BOSTON. 



" Stem to inllict anil stuliboni to endurp, 
Who smiled in deatli. 

In an old two-story wooden liouse wldcli stood upon the site 
of Brazer's Building Avere located the lirst United States Bank, 
and also the hrst government Post-Office. The former remained 
here until the erection of the building on the site of the Ex- 
change ; the Post-Ofiice Avas removed here from Cornhill. 
Jonathan iVrmstrong Avas postmaster, and easily performed, from 
his perch on a high stool, all the duties pertaining to his office. 
The figure of a Avinged Mercury, Avell executed in Avood hy 
Simeon Skillin, a IS^orth End carver, Avas placed over the dour 
of the Post-Office in State Street. The tutelar deity Avas rep- 
resented in the act of springing from a globe. In one hand ho 
held his endjlematic rod, in the other a letter directed to the 
president of the Branch Bank. 

In front of the old meeting-house stood the Avhipping-post, 

and probably the stocks, tliough 
this latter engine has been lo- 
cated in front of the Old State 
House. In later years, the 
stocks and pillory Avere a moA^a- 
l)le machine, on AAdieels, and had 
no fixed position. Both Avere 
used as a means of enforcing 
attendance, or punishing offences 
against the church, and their 
location at its A'ery portal served, no doubt, as a gentle re- 
minder to the congregation. 

It is recorded that in the year 1753 a Avoman stood for an 
hour in the i)illory near the Town House, amid the scoffs and 
jeers of the multitude. The Scarlet Letter is no myth ; ILiav- 
tliorne had Init to turn to the criminal records of the Colony 
for the draniatic incidents he has related. The (leneral Court 
enacted in 1G95 a laAv to prevent marriages of consanguinity, 
the declared penalty of breaking Avhich Avas that the man or 
AVoman offending should l)e set ninm the gallows for an hour, 
Avith a rope about the neck, and in the Avay from thence to the 




THE STOCKS. 



FROM THE OLD STATE HOUSE TO BOSTON TIER. 



93 



common jail be severely whipped. The offenders were forever to 
wear a capital letter " I," cut out of cloth of a color different 
from their clothes, on the arm or back, in open view. If the 
culprit removed the letter, he or she was to be further whipped. 
No doubt there were Hester Prynnes thus branded and scourged 
in State Street. 

Public whipping was inflicted as late as 1S03, and per- 
sons are living who Avitnessed it. I>y order of the Supreme 
Judicial Court of Massachusetts, two 
men were placed in the pillory, in the 
year mentioned, in State Street. Pier- 
pont, the owner, and Storey, master of 
the brig Hannah, having procured a 
heavy insurance on their cargo, for a 
voyage to the "West Indies, the vessel 
was sunk in Boston harbor, Xovember 
22, 1801, and a large portion of the in- 
surance collected. Praud being proved, 
both as to the lading and loss of the 
brig, the Court decreed that Pierpont 
and Storey be set in the pillory in 
State Street two several times, one 
hour each time, and imprisoned two 
years, and pay the costs of })rosecution. 
The sentence was duly executed, the pdlory being placed near 
" 'Change " Avenue. The Sheriff usually i)erfurmed the whip- 
})ing by deputy. The whipping-post became a perambulating 
affair, and at one time was stationed in West Street.. Its ac- 
knowledged utility appears by tlie Sessions Justice's famous 
charge, which lays down the laAV in somewhat startling phrase. 

"Gentlemen of the grand jury : You are required by your oath 
to see to it, that the several towns in the county be provided accord- 
ing to law with. 

Pounds and schoolmasterr^, 

Whipping-posts and ministers." 

John Wilson, first pastor of the First Church, owned land 
on Cornhill and State Street ; the lane bearing his name, and 




THE PILLOEY. 



94 laxd:\iarks of bostox. 

running tlirongh his tract, was deservedly called Crooked 
Lane. His dwelling Avas on the site of the Globe Bank, de- 
molished in 1873 to widen the narrow Avay, Avhich still retaiiis, 
however, the old minister's name. 

Wilson's Lane is chiefly remarkaltle for the number and ex- 
cellence of its eating-houses. This circumstance, with its old 
name, calls to mind Tom Hood's lines : — 

" I 've heard about a jileasaut land, wliere omelets grow on trees, 
And roasted pigs run crying out, 'Come eat me, if you please.' 
My appetite is rather keen, but how shall I get there ? 
' Straight down the Crooked Lane, and all round the Square.' " 

The Merchants' Bank succeeded to the location of the ITnited 
States Branch Bank, which was in its day a building of consid- 
erable architectural pretension. 'J'he two columns which now 
support the front of the Merchants' Bank performed a like ser- 
vice for its predecessor, and when taken down were fluted to 
correspond more nearly with the plan of the ncAV building. 
Observation will show that the granite is of a dilfcrent color 
from that used in the rest of the flicade. The United States 
Bank building was built of Chelmsford gi-anite, in imitation 
of a Grecian temple. It was at hrst proposed to take the site 
of the Old State House, but the project — happily for the 
existence of this old moniuuent — was abandoned. The struc- 
ture was erected in 1824 ; Solomon Willard was the architect; 
Gridley Bryant, master-mason. The columns referred to were 
brought from Chelmsford on ponderous trucks built for the pur- 
pose. On account of their great Aveight the proprietors of the 
britlges refused to permit the passage of the teams, and they 
Avere accordingly brought OA'er the Neck. The moving of such 
uiiAvieldy masses of granite — a marvel Avlien it AA'as first 
atti'mj)ted — Avas eclipsed by the transporting of the columns 
for the Court House and Custom House. 

The pediment Avas a faA^orite resort for jiigeons, Avhich becom- 
ing somewhat troublesome, by order of Gardiner Greene, the 
prtnudent, a wooden cat Avas i»lace(l on the accustomed perch of 
the feathered visitors. They Avere at lirst a little shy, but soon 
ceased to have any fear of the sham grimalkin. It Avas then 



^^ MjCry rsrc-J-^g^ 






FROM THE OLD STATE HOUSE TO BOSTON TIER. 95 

reinovcel to tlie directors' room, and presided for a long time 
over the deliberations of the board. 

The United States IJank was established in 1791, and the 
charter exjiircd in 1812, but was revived in 181(5, and finally 
dissolved in 1830. Tlie bank originated in the want of money 
to carry on the government. Tlie dii'cctors were appointed 
by the parent banlc at _^^^-jp:_^— ^rf^^^-^-^^gj,^^^ 

Philadelphia, and the div- u-. 

idends which the bank de- ^ -- .^-_ 

clared were made up from i --'^" — ^ 

the Imsiness of all the ^ .^ * 

branches. Under the cliar- ' ^^' ' I ; , " 

ter of 1816 the capital J , 

was thirty-five millions, - 
of which the government ; : 
owned seven. The at- 
tem]it to permanently es- 
tal)lish a bank under gov- ^ 

ernment control, like the -^'iir!-^r—^-^^:^^-^:^^,;^-^.:^-r^is^^:^,^^- 

Lank of England, proved toited states bank. 

a failure, as is well known. The removal of the deposits by Gen- 
eral Jackson affected the Boston branch but little, but it brought 
to light a defaulting official. The receiving teller, whose name 
was John Fuller, finding discovery inevitable, put forty thousand 
dollars into his pocket one afternoon and absconded. In 18.3G 
Congress revived the charter, ])ut Jackson vetoed it. A bank 
under the old title, established by the State of Pennsylvania, 
went into operation in the latter year, and continued until 18 tl. 

The old United States Bank Avas erected on the site of the 
Exchange, in 1798, and bore on its front an American eagle, 
with its wings outstretched, as if in the act of swooping upon 
the bulls and bears of the street. On the expiration of the 
charter the State Bank purchased the Iniilding, and the eagle 
was afterwards removed to Faneuil Hall, wliere it is one of the 
curiosities to be seen there. It is made of clay baked in an 
oven at the South End ; and the fractured edges chipped away 
by relic-hunters have the appearance of broken pottery or tile. 



06 LANDMARKS OF LOSTOX. 

Formerly the proud Livd of Jove, and oinljlein of oi:r repidjlic, 
was in the centre of thi; hall, giuirdrd l)y an iron r;dling. The 
iron gates of the old hank now guard the entrance to the Cem- 
etery on Washington Street, near the St. James Hotel ; a 
rather singular transition from the shrine of ]\Iammon t > the 
ahodc of death. Thomas liussell was the first President in 
1792, and Peter Poe Dalton, Cashier. The next location of 
tlie United States Bank w;is in Congress Street, on the west 
side, and not far from State Street. 

" — Wliei'o 's the jolly liost 
You told me of ( 'T has been my rustom ever 
To jiarley with mhie Iiost." 

The Poyal Exchange TaA'ern Avas on the southwest corner of 
Exchange and State Streets, and gave the name of Poyal Ex- 
change Lane to that thoroughfare. Shriinpton's Lane was an 
earlier n:une. This tavern certainly dates l)ack to 1727, and 
was then kept hy Luke Yardy. At the time of the JMassacre 
one Stone was the landlord. It Avas a resort for the officers of 
the British army hefore the Pevolution. At the heginning of 
the present century it was kept hy Israel Hatch, and was a reg- 
ular stopping-place for the Providence stages. 

The rencontre between Henry Phillips and Ijenjamin Wood- 
bridge, Avhich ended in a duel on the Connnon, liad its begin- 
ning in this house. After the hre of Decendjer, 1747, which 
destroyed the Town House, the General Court Avas held at 
Vardy's for the fcAV remaining days of the session. The Poyal 
Exchange Avas also a favorite hostelry of the Masons, Vardy 
being of the fraternity. At a IMasonic procc^ssion on St. John's- 
day Joseph Green notices the jolly landlord thus : — 

" Wliere 's honest Luke ? that cook from London ; 
For without Luke, the Lodge is undone. 
'T was lie who oft dispell'd their sadness, 
And filled the Brethren's hearts with gladness. 
Luke in return is made a brother, 
A.s good and true as any other, 
And .still, tliough broke with age and wiue. 
Preserves the token and the sign." 

The Poyal Custom House, at the time of tlie Massacre, was 



FROM THE OLD STATE HOUSE TO BOSTON PIER. 97 

on the southeast corner of Exchange and State Streets. Joseph 
Harrison was Collector, and William Shoatfe Depvity. With the 
sentinel on duty at this point be[;an the aftray in State Street. 
The sentinel, abused, beaten, and likely to be overpowered, 
loaded his piece and shouted for assistance to the post of the 
main-guard, Avhich was opposite the south door of the Town 
House. The deplorable results which followed are familiar. 
The old Custom House had a balcony, from which shots were 
fired at the populace during the Massacre. 

This circumstance, elicited during the investigation into the 
affair by the town authorities, did not tend to improve the re- 
lations betAveen the people and the obnoxious officers of the 
customs. The town desired these officials to be present during 
the investigation and use the privilege of questioning the Avit- 
nesses. Sheatfe, hoAvever, Avas the only one Avho attended. He 
had been a long time connected Avith the Custom House ; as 
tieputy under Sir Henry Frankland, and as his successor when 
Sir Henry Avas removed for inattention to his duties. Sheaffo 
issued the famous Writs of Assistance. He was the father 
of the celebrated Sir lioger Hale Sheaffe, and a dcA'oted loyal- 
ist. Slieaffe lived in the vicinity of Scollay Square in Coiirt 
Street. He had some pretty daughters, of Avhom Sabine, in Ids 
" Loyalists," says : — 

" Susanna, IMr. Sbeaffe's oldest daughter, married Captain Ponson- 
by MolesAA'orth, a nephew of Lord Ponsonby. 

" The family account is, that on the day of the landing of a regi- 
ment of British troops in Boston, a halt Avas made in Queen (Coinl) 
Street opposite ]\Ir. Sbeaffe's house ; that Susanna, attracted by the 
music and the redcoats, Avent upon the balcony ; that M(3lesworth 
soon saw her, Avas strnck by her great beauty, gazed intently iqion 
her, and at last said to a brother officer, Avlio, like himself, Avas lean- 
ing against a fence, ' That girl seals my fate.' " 

Margaret, another daughter of INIr. Sheaffe, Avas remarkable 
for her beauty ; so handsome, according to tradition, " no one 
could take her picture." PrcAuous to her marriage, Lafiiyette, 
who admired her, said to her lover, " Were I not a married 
man, I 'd try to cut you out." 

5 G 



98 



LANDMARKS OF BOSTON. 



At the time of the ]\[a.s.sacre tlie Custom House "vvas in 
a building used as a dwelling by Bartholomew Green and 
family. King Street was then full of dwellings, the occupants 
using the lower floor for their business. This Green, a printer 
by profession, had, according to Thomas, the peculiar faculty of 
recognizing at sight any vessel belonging to the port of Boston. 
Perpetually on the watch, as soon as a vessel could be discovered 
Avith a spy-glass he knew its name, and gave information to the 
owner. He had some small oliice in the Custom House at one 
time. 

He who stood on the balcony of the Old State House in 
1770 might count five taverns of repute in King Street. The 
Bunch of Grapes Avas the best punchdiouso, but Vardy's, the 
nearest, Avas proljably most fre(pieuted by the barristers and 
officers (if the court. 



-m^^^> 






r' 



p . In, 



!p|i||p!lf'!ti 



r n rc-^ 



In 



m 
1 I 

El Gl 



]f'\' la f;i|, 



From our stand-j)oint, at the lower end of the Old State 
House, DeA'onsliire Street opens at our right hand. The Pud- 
ding Lane of yore is suggestiA^e of good living. Accordingly 
Ave hnd the Avell-remendjered Exchange Coti'ee-House Avas situ- 
ated in Congress Square, once knoAvn by the singular title of 
Half-S(piare Court. The name of this house OAves its origin to 
the fact that the jirincipal floor Avas intended to be used by the 



ri;o:\i the old state house to bostox tier. 90 

mercliants as an Exchaiigo. It Avas a maiiinuitli afTair of" seven 
stories, far in advance of tlie wants of its day, and Avas ooin- 
ideted in 1808, having occupied two years and a half in l)uild- 
ing ; it cost half a million. An unsu(;cessful speculation, it ^vas 
the means of ruining many of the mechanics who were em- 
l)loyed in building it. Destroyed by lire Novemljer 3, 1818, it 
was rebuilt in a less expensi\'e manner, and occupied as a tavern 
until 1853, when it was demolished, giving place to the build- 
ings known as the " City Exchange." 

The front of the Coifee House, on Congress Street, was orna- 
mented with six marble Ionic pilasters, and crowned with a 
Corinthian pediment. It had entrances on the State Street 
side and from Devonshire Street. The building was of an ir- 
regular shape, rather like a triangle with the apex cut off, and 
contained about two hundred and ten ajiartments. It was in 
the very centre of business, and was a stopping-place for stages 
going or returning from town. A number of Masonic Lodges 
occupied the ujiper stories. 

Captain Hull made the Exchange his quarters when he was 
in port during the war of 1812. At the rooms of the Exchange 
was kept a register of marine news, arrivals, departures, etc. 
AVhen Hull arrived in Boston after his fortunate escape from 
the British fleet in July, 1812, he wrote with his own hand in 
this book the following : — 

"Whatever merit may be due for the escape of the Constitution 
from the British fleet, belongs to my fu'st officer, Cliarles ]\Iorris, Esc|. 

"Isaac Hull." 

On his arrival, after the memorable action with the Guerriere, 
Hull was the recipient of flattering attentions from the merchants, 
and indeed the whole population vied to do him honcn". Hull, 
with straightforward manliness, wrote on the journal of the 
Coffee House a Avell-deserved tribute to the services of this same 
Lieutenant, afterwards Commodore Morris, who was severely 
wounded in the fight. 

Dacres, who became Hull's prisoner after this engagement, 
lodged at the Exchange. Of him it is related, that when he 
went up the side of the Constitution, after leaving his own 



100 LANDMAPvES OF BOSTON. 

ship, Hull, -eager to soothe the feelings of his gallant adversary, 
stepped forward, oflered liis hand, and said, " Dacres, my dear 
fellow, I am glad to see you ! " The rejdy of the discomfited 
Briton was, " I) — n it, I suppose you are." The twain became 
aft('rwar<ls Ih'ui friends. 

President jNIonroe visited Boston in Jidy, 1817. He took 
apartments at the Exchange Collee House. On the 4th a 
sumptuous dinner was served, at which the following guests 
were present. It would be hard to find a more distinguished 
company. General ISwift, Superintendent of West P(jint Acad- 
emy, presided, assisted by Commodore Perry and Mv. JNIason. 
The other guests were ex-President John Adams, Governor 
Brooks, Lieutenant-(iovernor I'hillips, General H. Dearborn, 
President Kirkland, Chief Justice Parker, Judges Story, Jack- 
son, Davis, and Adams, Generals Cobb and Humphreys of the 
old army, Hon. Messrs. Pickering and Fales, Commodores 
Bainbridge and Hull, and other naval officers. The President 
returned the visit of the venerable John Adams, and the two 
walked, arm in arm, over the farm at Cj),uincy, like any two 
plain country gentlemen. 

The fire which consumed the Coffee House was destructive. 
The keeper, ]\Ir. Barnum, lost $ 25,000. Eleven jjrinting-oftices, 
the Grand Lodge of the State, and several other Masonic Lodges 
were burned out. 

Where the Traveller building stands Avas once the printing- 
office of the " Columbian Centinel," established in 1784. It 
was then the size of a sheet of commercial post writing-pa})er, 
and puljlished semi-weekly. Benjamin liussell was the editor, 
a name well known in the annals of Boston journalism. Bus- 
sell was an apprentice to Isaiah Thomas of the celebrated 
Worcester Spy. Thomas had the ill luck to be drafted in 1 780, 
and young Russell volunteered in his ])lace. During his ser- 
A'ice he witnessed the execution of Andre, at West Point, as 
one of the guards. Bussell puldished the (,'entinel until 1824. 

When the Due de Chartres, afterwards Louis Philippe, Avas 
in Boston, an exile from his native country, he was in the habit 
of visitinu the Centinel olfice to ol)tain the news from ;d)road. 



FliO.M THE OLD STATE IIOUSE TO BOSTON PIER. 101 

and, it is said, occasionally wrote articles for the paper. The 
Ceiitinel was, at this time, distinguished for the accuracy of its 
information in regard to tlie Avar then waging between repub- 
lican France and combined Euro[)('. An atlas Avhich had be- 
longed to Louis enabled the editor to describe the topography 
of the battle-fields minutely, and thus surpass his contem[)o- 
raries. Louis I^apoleon, late Emperor of the French, was, if 
report speaks true, at a later day, an habitue of the Centinel 
office. Thus the representatives of two opposing dynasties have 
eagerly scanned the columns of the same republican newspai)er 
for intelligence that was to make or mar their fortunes. The 
Centinel was the leading Federalist organ of Xew England, and 
was ably conducted. 

Next is Congress Street, named for tho N'ational Legislature. 
The founders of Boston called it Leverett's Lane, from Elder 
Thomas Lcverett, Avho owned the tract through which it passes. 
It was subsequently Quaker Lane, fr.an the old Quaker Meet- 
ing-house situated therein. Congress Street, at its junction 
with State, was once only eleven feet wide ; and Exchange, even 
now scarcely deserving the name of street, was once as narrow 
as Wilson's Lane, but Avas Avidened through its entire length. 
The loAvcr part of State, where it meets Long Wharf, Avas also 
Avidened, — a proceeding so repugnant to one of the proprietors, 
tliat he took his gun and threatened to shoot any one that 
attempted to remove his building. It Avas cifected, hoAvever, 
Avithout bloodshed. 

The Exchange is built upon ground Avhich, in the olden time, 
belonged to Elder Thomas Leverett, who emigrated from Boston, 
England, Avhere he had been an alderman, and a parisliioner of 
Iiev. John Cotton. He Avas a man of property and distinction 
in the province. His more distinguished son, afterwards goA'- 
ernor, became the OAvner of this jn-operty, Avliich he parted Avith 
in 1656. It became afterAvards tAvo estates, each haA^ing a pro- 
prietor of consequence. 

AndrcAv Belcher, one of the most Avealthy merchants of Bos- 
ton, and a contemporary Avith old Andre Faneuil, lived, in 1691, 
in the Avesterly part of this estate, Avhich is described as " front- 



lU-i LANDMARKS OF BOSTON. 

iiig oil tlie Broad )Street near the ILKcliange." This was l:)efore 
they had found a name for the street. Ikdclier's house was of 
hrick. He also owned two brielc warehouses, "the one bigger 
and the other less," lying near the Town Dock ; an estate at the 
soutli corner of Washington and JJcdford Streets, one in Wing's 
Lane, and otlier valuable propei^ty. He had been one of the Pro- 
vincial Council, and was a representative in 1G98 and 1701. 

Jonathan Belcher, afterwards governor of " the INIassachu- 
setts," was in his tenth year when Andrew, his fiither, came from 
Charlestown to live in Boston. While in Europe, the Bostoniau 
was presented at court, and made so favorable an im[)ression on 
George I. that the King appointed him governor in 1730. The 
year previous he had gone again to England as agent for the 
colony, — a position he had aiot obtained very creditably, accord- 
ing to Hutchinson. Governor Belcher l»ecame very unpoi)ular, 
and was superseded, in 1741, by Governor Shirley ; but was 
afterwards ai)pointed governor of New Jersey. Shaw says 
Govern(n" Belcher's house w;xs after the moihd of Julien's, which 
is represented in another place ; he adds that it was standing a 
few years before he A\Tote, in 1817. JNIr. l)elcher Avas a very 
opulent merchant. His residence was in Orange Street, now 
AVashington, in 1732. He was one of the foremost in organiz- 
ing tlie Hollis Street Church, and gave the Society land to build 
it upon. During his administration occurred the great religious 
revival, causetl by the visit of Whiteheld, and Faneuil Hall 
i\Iarket was built. Governor Belcher's son, Jonathan, of Bos- 
ton, became lieutenant-governor of Nova Scotia. He was an 
al)l(\jurist, and had been also Chief Justice of that province. 

Governor Leverett sold a ])art of his estate, next east of 
Governor Belcher's, to Jeremiah Dummer, goldsmith, in 1G77. 
'I'his Jeremiah, fither of two distinguished sons, Avas himself a 
conspicuous man in the allairs of the town, and a deacon of the 
First ('hurcli. 

^Villiam Dummer, the elder son, lieutenant-governor of the 
cdloriy from 171G to 1720, Avas a captain in the Ancient and 
Honorable Artillery in 1710. He Avas acting chief-magistrate 
diuing a great ]tart of his term, the governor, Samuel Sliute, 



FROM THE OLD STATE HOUSE TO BOSTON I'lER. 1U3 

being absent from liis post. The principal events of GoA'ernor 
Diunnier's term Avere the cstahHshment of a linen manuf;actory 
in tlie town, and tlie introdnetion of inoculation for the small- 
pox, (hiring one of its periodical visits, by Dr. Boylston. This 
terrible distemper, Avliich had scourged Boston with great vio- 
lence at different times, was arrested by this simple expedient, 
whicli the Western world owes to the efforts of a woman. 
Lady jNIary Wortley Montagu accompanied her husband to the 
I'orte, where he was ambassador, in 1716. "Wliile there she 
witnessed the custom among the Turks of engrafting for the 
small-pox. She at once devoted her extraordinary epistolary 
powers to procure the introduction of tliis great boon into Eng- 
land, and, by great exertions, happily succeeded. Franklin's 
paper was estal>lished while Dummer was acting-governor. 
Governor Dummer provided in his will for the manumission 
and care of his three negroes. He attended Hollis Street 
Church, living close at hand at the time. 

Jeremiah Dummer^ the younger, was born in the old home- 
stead in State Street. He graduated at Harvard in 1G99, and 
studied at the University of Utrecht, where he took a degree. 
A polished scholar and writer, he is known in public life as 
the Massachusetts Agent in England, 1710-21. He ])ublished 
an eloquent defence of the Xew England charters when tliey 
were threatened in the latter year. 

In a building adjoining the Avest side of the Exchange 
was tlie first United States Custom House ; General Benjamin 
IJncoln Avas the first collector, and retained the position until 
1808. He occupied part of tlie house for a dwelling. A 
distinguished Revolutionary soldier. General Lincoln fought 
from the lakes to Savannah. He Avas Avith Gates at Saratoga 
as second in command, and Avitli D'Estaing in the assault 
on Savannah. Tlie fortune of Avar made him a prisoner to 
Sir H. Clinton in jNIay, 1780, Avith the garrison of Cliaiics- , 
ton. Again, at Yorktown, he had the satisfaction of seeing 
the army of CornAvallis lay down their arms. In Shays' Eebel- 
liou of '87 Lincoln commanded the State forces ; he Avas also 
lieutenant-governor in this year. General Lincoln's portrait, 



104 LANDMARKS OF BOSTON. 

by F. A. Dnrivagp, • — copied from Sargent's picture in the 
Historical Society's Collection — is in the collector's room at 
the Custom House. 

The jMerchants' Exchange, now the Suh-Treasury and Post- 
Office, is one of the most imposing edihces in State Street. It 
Avas erected in 1842, and covers ground on which stood the 
United States Branch, and afterwards the State Bank. 

The hrst action in regard to a post-ottice appears to have been 
an order of the General Court, Novembers, 1G39, as follows : — 

"For tlie preventing the misrarriage of letters, it is ordered, that 
notice liee given, that Piicliard Fairbanks, his house in Boston, is the 
place appointed for all letters, wliich are brought from beyond seas, 
or to be sent thither ; are to be brought unto him, and he is to take 
care that they bee delivered or sent accoiding to their directions ; 
provided that no man shall be compelled to bring his letters thither 
except hee please." 

Somewhat later it seems to have become the custom to bring 
letters to the Exchange, in the Town Hall, to run the hazard of 
being forwarded by visitors ; but this proved so precarious a 
method that the Council, in 1677-78, appointed John Hayward 
Postmaster for the whole colony. John (/am})bell, })uljlislier 
of the News-Letter, v/as Postmaster about 17(U. 

In 1711 tlie Post-Office was in Old Cornhill, and, Avhen the 
great hre occurred in October of that year was removed to the 
south side of Milk Street, opposite Pev. Mr. Pemberton's. It 
Avas removed back to Cornhill soon after this. William Brooker 
was Postmaster in 1719. In 1754 the Post-Office was in Corn- 
hill, at the house of James Franklin, Postmaster ; in 1770 it was 
still in Cornhill, between King Street and Dock Srpiare ; Tut- 
hiil Hubljard was Postmaster in 1771. Between this date and 
1788 it occupied the corner of Court and Washington Streets 
(Sears Building), and in the latter year was removed to 44 
Cornhill, where New Cornhill now enters Washington Street. 

Post-routes were first established in 1711, to Maine and 
Plymouth once a week, and to New York once a fortnight. 
In 1829 the Post-Office Avas located on the corner of Con- 
gress and Water Streets, and employed eight clerks ; and 



FROM THE OLD STATE HOUSE 'TO BOSTON riER. 105 

ill 1838 in tlu; Old State House, as related. It will soon seek 
another situation in Water Street, where a splendid editice is 
l)eing erectetl. President Grant having assisted at the laying of 
the corner-stone. 

The Bunch of Grapes Tavern was on the corner of Kilby 
Street (formerly ]\Iackerel Lane) and State. The l^ew Eng- 
land Bank rei)laces the inn. This tavern existed as early as 
1712, and was then kept by Francis Holmes; in 1731-33 it 
was kept by William Coffin; Joshua Barker kept it in 1749; 
and Colonel Joseph Ingersoll from 17G4 to 1772. Captain 
John jNIarston was landlord in 1777-78, William Foster in 
1782, and James Vila, who removed the same year to Concert 
Hall, in 178'J. 

The sign of this hostelry was three clusters of grapes. Allien 
the building was torn down to give })lace to the bank, the 
bunches of grapes w^ere removed to the Commercial Coffee 
House, in Milk Street, which was, in its turn, removed, and two 
of the bunches now grace the front of a li(j[uor store in I^orth 
Market Street."' 

Few of the ancient inns have had more notable guests than 
this. As long ago as 1728 Governor Burnet found a hospitable 
reception on his arrival in Boston. In 1776, after the reading 
of the Declaration of Independence, the Lion and Unicorn from 
the Town House, Court House, Custom House, and all other 
British emblems that could be found, were collected in front of 
this hostelry and made a bonfire of. When Lafayette arrived 
in Boston in October, 1784, lie alighted at the Bunch of Grapes. 
The Society of the Cincinnati held their meetings here in 1787, 
and heard orations in the " Old Brick." 

liecrossiiig the street, we find that the Custom House was, 
in 1810, situated on the lower corner of Change Avenue, former- 
ly Pierce's, and afterwards Flagg Alley. General Henry Dear- 
born, of Revolutionary fame, succeeded the venerable General 
Lincoln as Collector in 1809, the latter having resigned on ac- 
count of the Endiargo. It is said that (Jeneral Lincoln WTote 
to President ^Madison, " that he had fought for the liberties of 

* E. Paige & Co.'s, 43 anci 44 Nortli Market Street. 
5* 



lUG laxi):<iai;ks of boston. 

liis (.'ountry, and Kpeiit his Lest years in lier service ; and tliat 
lie was not, in liis old age, to be made un iustrimieiit to violate 
what he had assisted to acquire." "' 

General Dearborn continued to be Collector until appointed 
by Madison Senior Major-General, and ordered to the Canada 
frontier in LSI 2. His l(»ng and glorious career of public service 
extended from Bunker Hill, in 1775, to the capture of York, in 
1813. At the latter place, now Toronto, was captured tlie royal 
standard of England, the only one that ever fell into our hands. 
This trophy is in the naval nuiseum at Annapolis. I5y the in- 
trigues of his enemies the veteran Avas displaced from his com- 
mand, but was refused the court of inquiry he solicited. He was 
minister to Portugal in 1822. General Dearborn lived in Avhat 
was afterwards the Sun Tavern, on Batterymarch Street, more 
recently occu|)ied by a Glass Company. He married James 
Bowdoin's widow, and was a man of very imposing presence. 

H. A. S. Dearborn, son of the old warrior, succeeded to the 
collcctorship. The younger General Dearborn held a number of 
offices, and is knoAvn as an author of several historical works. 
At the time of the Dorr Iiebellion in Ehode Island he was Ad- 
jutant-General of IVIassachusetts, and was removed for loaning 
the State arms to suppress that affair. 

AVhen the Custom House Avas located on the north side of 
State Street, the front Avas ornamented Avith two figures carved 
in Avood ; one representing Hope leaning on the traditional 
anchor, the other Justice holding the scales aloft. These me- 
morials are noAV preserved in the insurance office occupying the 
same site. 

In 1810 the building in Custom Ho;ise Street AA^as completed, 
;\nd occujiied in December of that year, but Avas soon found too 
contracted for the goverinuent business. The United States 
Custom House had, for short periods, locations in Merchants' 
Ikow, on the northeast corner of Corn Court, and in Half-Court 
S(|uare, noAV Congress Square. The tablet in the building in 
Custom House Street is from the t)l(l Custom House. 

On this site Avas established, in 17G4, the first circulating 

* Miss Quincy's Memoir. 



FROM THE OLD STATE HOUSE TO BOSTON riEK. 107 

library in Boston, hy Jolin Mem, the most extensive bookseller 
of the (lay. His jjlace was called the London Bookstore, and 
his stock contained, according to his advertisement, ten thousand 
volumes. 

Thomas says Mein came from Glasgow, in 17G4, with Robert 
Sandeman. His shop was hrst on the north corner of -what is 
now Franklin and "Washington Streets, where, in addition to 
books, he sold Irish linens, etc. The firm at tliis time was Mein 
and Sandeman. 

John Mein is also associated Avith early printing in Boston, 
having been connected with John Fleming, in 1767, in the 
publication of the Boston Clii-onicle, the first semi-weekly in 
^'ew England. 

The paper fell under the ban of popular censure, and was 
suspended in 1770, it having espoused the cause of the mother 
country. Mein was exhibited in effigy on Pope Day, 1769, 
and in the unique and horrible pageant was carried a lantern 
with this acrostic : — ■ 

" Mean is the man, M — n is liis name, 
Enougli he 's spread his liellish fame ; 
Infernal Furies hnri liis soul, 
Nine inilliou times from Pole to Pole." 

Mein was afterwards the subject of a personal attack, and 
took refuge with the soldiery, making a final escape from the 
profane poetry and hard blows of the wrathful " Bostoneers " 
soon after, to England. 

As we are now among the Insurance Offices, it becomes ap- 
propriate to state that the first in the town Avas estalilished by 
Joseph Marion, in 1724. His office Avas called "The Sun Fire 
Office in Boston," and Avas located near the site of the Globe 
Bank, 22 State Street. 

\Yhere the beautiful marble huilding numbered 66 noAV 
stands Avas the British Coffee House, an inn kept by Mr. Bal- 
lard in 1762. It AA'as of some prominence, and divided Avith 
its neighbors the patronage of the military and civilians. The 
repeal of the Stamp Act Avas celebrated here, and at the Binich 
of Grapes in IMarch, 1767. It Avas also the scene of the un- 



108 LANDMARKS OF BOSTON. 

fortunate collision Ijetween James Otis and John Eobinson, one 
of the Customs Commissioners referred to in connection with 
Otis's residence. Otis Avent to the Coffee House alone, by ap- 
pointment, and was immediately attacked by Iiobinson and Ids 
friends. A young man who went to the assistance of Otis 
was Kiughly liandletl and put out of the house. 

The lutuse seems to have been preferred by British officers ; 
for we find one of tliem, Sui'geon Dolton, delivering a harangui3 
from the balcony, ri<liculing the onitions of Warren and Han- 
cock, and abusive of the Whig patriots, wdiile the main-guard, 
paraded in front, furnished an audience. Under the new yen'ime 
this tavern was styled the American Coflce House. It became 
a place of ]>ublic vendue, in 17SG, by a firm Avho sold books in 
the chand)cr and jackasses in the street. The Massachusetts 
Bank long occu})ied its site. 

Merchants' Bow seems to have retained its original designa- 
tion, being thus described in 1708. Andrew Faneuil's Avare- 
house was on the lower corner in 1732. This was then the 
lower end of King Street. The \Ujw f illowed an irregular, 
serpentine course to the wharf on the siaitlierly side of the 
Town Dock. 

On the west side of ^Merchants' Bow, ab(iut midway from 
State Street to Faneuil Hall, was tlie first house of entertain- 
ment in Boston. It was kept by Samuel Cole in 1(n34. (Gov- 
ernor Yane, in 163G, invited !Miant<tnimoh, the Narragansett 
clnef, to Boston, and the sachem repaired thitlier with a con- 
siderable retinue. The attendants of the chieftain were dined 
at Mr. C(de's, doubtless with many a grunt ol" satisfaction, for 
their landlord l)ore a good name, as we shall learn, from high 
authority. In what manner Cole fed liis score of painted Nar- 
ragansetts does nut transpire. It must have vexed the s])irit 
of tlie jolly Biinitace full sore to know how to place his guests 
at table. They did not know the use of chairs, so he may have 
seated tliem, ac(;c>riling to their custom, in a circle on the floor, 
with his iron jxit of meat in the centre, into Avlnch each might 
])lunge his hand until satisfied. However, Indians were no 
micommon sight in the town in those days. 



FROM THE OLD STATE HOUSE TO BOSTON PIER. 109 

Lord Ley, Earl of Marlborough, avIio "was killctl in a naval 
engagement with the Dutch in 1065, visitetl JJoston in 1037. 
He lodged at Cole's inn, and when urged by Ciovornor AVinthrop 
to partake of his hospitality declined, saying tliat the house 
where he was was so well governed, he could be as private 
there as elsewhere. Lord Ley accompanied Sir Harry A'^ane 
back to England. His lordship's reply was not, it is said, rel- 
ished by the governor, who considered himself slighted and his 
hospitality and position neglected. 

Kill)y Street, which once boasted the euphonious name of 
Mackerel Lane, extended first only from State Street to what 
is Liberty Scpiare, the portion beyond being known as Adams 
Street until 1825. Mackerel Lane was very narrow until the 
great fire of 17G0, and crossed the creek in Liberty S(iuare by 
a bridge at the foot of AVater Street. On the map of 1722 
wharves line the east side of Kilby Street, and until about 
1800 Oliver's Dock came up to this street, liroad and India 
Streets had no existence until 1808-09. 

Oliver's Dock was originally marsh, and through Liberty 
Square a creek ran up as far west as Spring I^ane. This was 
Governor AVinthro[)'s marsh, and the head of this cove was in 
the vicinity of the spring mentioned in the Introduction. Shaw 
states that 

" The greater part of Congress Street is made land. An aged gentle- 
man, who lived near tlie spot, says that when the foundation of Joy's 
Buildings (corner of Congress and AVater) was ])reparing, the re- 
mains of the hull of an old vessel, or large boat, with fragments of 
canvass and tarred rope, were dug up ; which shows the place 
had been once used as a graving-yard, or some similar purpose. 
From a view of the ground, there is reason to believe that the greater 
part of Congress Street, the whole of Kilhy Street and Liberty 
S(piare, are built on flats, once covered by salt water." 

In noticing the great storm and tide in 1723 the writer 
says, — 

" AVe could sail in boats from tlie southern Ijattery (Rowe's AVharf) 
to the rise of ground in King Street." 

In very high tides the water has flowed up to the corner of 



110 LANDMARKS OF BOSTON. 

State Street and ]\Ierc]iant.s' Row. Sound lo,i!:s liave lieen dug 
up at ilie Ixittoni of tins sti-eet, wliicli, fixim the appearance of 
knots and branches, were su^iposed to have been felled near at 
hand. 

Oliver's Dock, so named from Peter Oliver, is noted as the 
scene of an episode of the Stamp Act riots of 1765. A Imild- 
in^' newly erected on the northeast corner of Kil1:)Y Street and 
Liljerty S(|uare was supposed by the people to be intended 
for a stamp office, and Avas torn down and thrown into tlie 
d<ick. Lilierty Sipiare deriA^es its name irom this circumstance. 
It Avas so named at the ( 'i\'ic Feast in honor of tlie French 
licvolution January 24, 1793, when a liberty-pole sixty feet 
in length, surinounted by the horns of the ox that had Ijeen 
roasted on Copp's Hill for the feast, Avas raised, and a salute of 
fifteen guns tired. Idie procession, after passing tlirough the 
princi})al streets, pausing at Liberty Stump (Avhere Liljerty 
Tree had stood), and at the residences of " Citizens " Hancock 
and Adams, as they Avere then styled, then goA'ernor and lieu- 
tenant-governor, halted in State Street, Avhere tables Avere laid 
from the (Jld State House to near Kilby Street. The roasted 
ox A\'as there dispatched by the crowd amid a scene of con- 
fusion. In the afternoon an entertainment AA'as provided at 
Faneuil Hall at Avhich Samuel Adams j)resided. " Libei'ty 
and F(piality " Avere toasted and sung, Init as the bloody char- 
acter of the French IiCA'olution became manifest in the execu- 
tion (if Louis XVI., Avhich had occurred tlnee days before, the 
Civic Feast Avas not repeated. 

The first directory published in Loston Avas printed by John 
iS^orman, at Oliver's Dock, in 178iJ. It contained 1,473 
names. The directory of 1872 contains 102,117 names. 

liroad Street next invites attention. It Avas built, in 1808, 
by that great pul)lic beneftictor, Uriah Cotting, Avhose improve- 
ment of Cornhill is already noticed. Until this street Avas laid 
out Lattervmarch jnarked the Avater-line to its junction with 
Kill:)y Sti'eet. Droad Street Avas at hrst occupied for business, 
but tlie subsequent building of India Street rendered it una- 
A'ailable for this piu-pose, and it became the headquarters of a 



FROM THE OLD STATE HOUSE TO BOSTON PIER. Ill 

respectable class of residents ; tliose were ousted in their turn 
by the Irish, "vvho swarmed to this country in great numljers 
after the war of 1812. Among the early residents of Broad 
Street we find Lieutenant, afterwards Commodore John Downes, 
who served with distinction in the navy. He was in the attack 
on Trij)oli under Preble, and with David Porter in the Pacific, 
where, in command of the Essex Junior, — to use the lan- 
guage of a contemporary, — "he played the devd. among the 
whalers." 

Broad Street was, in June, 1837, the scene of a riot between 
the firemen and Irish. The affair grew out of an attempt of 
the firemen, while proceeding to a fire, to pass tlu-ough the 
ranks of an Irish funeral cortege. This was resented, and led 
to a regular Donnybrook scrimmage, resulting in many broken 
heads, but no loss of life. Military force was used to put 
down the riot, which assumed serious proportions, but no 
powder was burned. The aliray led to the disbandment of 
the whole fire department. 

India Street, flanked by India and Central AVharves, was 
built, the year after Broad Street, by Mr. Cotting. About mid- 
way of Central Wharf was formerly an arched passage-way, 
which presented the singidar featiu-e of a building supported l:)y 
it, but having no land belonging to it, — to use a military 
phrase, it was in the air. There were formerly a number of 
these arches, — not the least among the curious objects to be 
seen in Boston, — - and several are yet existing. 

Two other taverns remain to be noticed, of which the first is 
the Admiral Yernon. The name Avas from E<lward Vernon, tlie 
admiral, who was known wliile he lived under the sohncptct of 
Old Grog. In bad weather he was in the hal)it of walking the 
deck in a rough gi'ogram cloak, and thence had ol)tained the 
nickname. Whilst in command of the West India Station, 
and at the height of his popularity on account of his reduction 
of Porto Bello with six men-of-war, he introduced the i;sc of 
rum and water by the ship's company.* The Admiral Yernon 
was on the lower corner of State Street and Merchants' Eow, 

* Notes and Queries. 



112 LANDMARKS OF BOSTON. 

and was kept by lUcliard Smith about 1743, and in 1775 by 
Mary IJcan. 

The lirst liouse on Long Wharf was the Crown CofTce House, 
noticed in 1718. It was kept l)y "Widow Anna 8words in 1749, 
l)eing then owned by Governor 15elclier, while GoveriKir Wilham 
Dunuuer owned the next estate easterly. iJichard Smith, of 
the Admiral Vernon, kept it in 1749, and Robert Shelcock in 
1751. It Avas, like the Admiral Vernon, a water-side resort, 
l)ut is not known to possess any associations of marked interest. 
It stood where the building now is, having a Avesterly front on 
State Street, but the street has been widened here. Like the 
other inns, it was used as a dwelling by the proprietors. 

Peter Faneuil's warehouse was, in 1742-43 (the year of liis 
death), below the Admiral Vernon, from which he carried on 
his large business with the West Indies and Lurojie. Peter 
was not averse to a little sharp practice upon the King's revenue, 
fur we find an extract of one of his letters which requests ad- 
vice, — • " luso u'ltat good French brand i/ is wortlt, and if it he 
' possible to cloalc it so as to ship it for rum." "' Otherwise, Peter 
seems to have placed a high estimate upon his commercial honor, 
and his charities were numerous and opendianded. 

If you enter the little passage-way just below INIerchants' 
Low, you will iind a range of brick buildings, bounded north 
by Chatham Street and south by the passage-way. This is But- 
ler's Low, and you may yet see the name cut in stone on the 
southeast corner of the Ijlock. Peter Butler, an old jjroprietor, 
had a wareliouse and wharf here. Andrew, Peter, and Benjamin 
Faneuil all had warehouses on, or bounding upon, Butler's Row. 
These were all merchants of high standing, Avhich marks the 
locality as one of importance to the mercantile class. 

Seventy years ago the space between Batterymarch and State 
Streets was occupied by a ship-yard and wharves. Where the 
old (Justom House stands, on Custom House Street, large ves- 
sels have been built and launched. 

The massive iiroportions of tlie new Custom House, Avhich 
contains about the same number of cubic feet of stone as Bunker 
* DealiiifTS with the Dead. 



FKOM THE OLD STATE HOUSE TO BOSTON TIEU. 113 

Hill INIonumont, stand on a foundation recovered from the sea. 
Begun in 1837, it took three years to make a secure foundation. 
The building is cruciform, of the Grecian Doric order, and has 
the peculiarity that the roof is covered with granite tiles, ren- 
dering it coni^iletely tire-proof. Its position is not conspicuous, 
hut it is one of the noticealjle public edihces in Boston. It was 
completed in 1849, at a cost of over a million. A. B. Young, 
]\I. A., was the architect. 

We may now take a retrospective view of State Street. It 
is the busy mart and exchange of the city, sacred to the worship 
of Mammon. Bills, stocks, and bonds are its literature, and 
in its vaults are fifty millions of dollars. Here Shylock meets 
Antonio, and daily takes his pound of flesh. It is our Eialto, 
our Bourse, our Royal Exchange. But time was when Perez 
IMorton dwelt where the Union Bank's strong coffers are, and 
John Coburn took gentlemen boarders just below the Post- 
Office, — this, too, within the present century. 

Since Boston was. State Street has been a favorite theatre of 
military displays, - — the train-bands of the hard-visaged Puri- 
tans, the solid tramp of the newly arrived British soldiery in 
1768, and of the reinforcements in 1774. Tlirough State Street 
marched the 5th and 38th to embark for Bunker Hill, and the 
tread of Itochambeau's gallant Frenchmen has wakened the 
echoes of the old street. Since those more stirring scenes it 
has been the custom and delight of the citizen soldiery to 
" march up State Street." The bayonets of many a gallant 
regiment have glittered in the sunlight here, ere they marched to 
the front in the late civil war. Here, too, Burns, a poor fugitive 
was conducted by the whole police and military force of the 
city to the ship which took him back to slavery. But we 
have changed all that. 

The fire of 1711 left its mark in State Street, destroying all 
the upper part, the Towii House, and the Old IVIeeting House. 
An attempt was made to sa-\-e the bell of the latter, and several 
sailors ascended the cupola for that purpose ; but the flames cut 
off their retreat, and they perished in the falling ruins. In 
1747 the Town House was again destroyed. In the great fire of 



114 LANDMAUKS OF BOSTON. 

ITGO the street was a;j,ain scourged by tlic devouring element, 
scarcely a liuilding licing left in the part helow Killjy Street. 

State Street was also the scene of a fatal atfray in August, 
180G, between Charles Austin and Thomas Oliver Selfridge, in 
which tlie former was killed. Tliis affair made a great noise, 
and the day was long remembered as " Bloody INIonday." James 
Sullivan was then Attorney-General, while the defence of Self- 
ridge was conducted l)y Samuel Dexter and Christopher Gore. 
The origin of the difhculty was political feud ; but, according 
to Mr. Sargent, tlie immediate cause was a disjiute between 
other parties, about seven roast j)i</s and ten hMs/tels of (/reeti 
jmxs. Austin was killed between the Old State House and the 
Traveller Office. 

Long Wharf and State Street are so firmly united that they 
may be considered one to all intents and })uriioses. Before the 
wharf was built the lower part of State Street terminated at 
the CJovernor's Dock. The subject of building a wharf at the 
bottom of King Street Avas mooted, as early as 1707, by Oliver 
Noyes and others. In 1709- 10 the town voted to acce})t the 
proposals of Noyes and his associates to build a wharf, with a 
sufficient common sewer, from Andrew Faneuil's corner to Ioav- 
Avater mark, to be of the width of King Street. As originally 
projected, the wharf was to have a })ublic way on one of its 
sides, thirty feet wide, for the use of the inhabitants and others 
forever. At about the middle a gap, sixteen feet wide, was to 
be left for the ])assage of boats ; the end was to be left free for 
the town to plant guns on, if occasion re(juired. The name of 
the wharf was, first, Boston Pier. ^I. rAl)l)e Robin describes 
the pier as "a super!) wharf, ad\'ancing nearly two thousand feet 
into the sea, Avide enough along its Avhole length for stores and 
shops." On the }na]t of 1722 there appears almost a continuous 
roAV of buildings on the north side; on I'rice's plan of 174:3 
the end of the Avhai'f is fortiiied. 

The "T" of Long Wharf, formerly knoAvn as ]\rinott's T 
{from Stephen jNIinott), is a ])art of the ancient structure knoAvn 
as the Barricado, or (_)ld Wharf, Avhich Avas a line of defence 
connecting Scarlett's AVharf, at the foot of Cojip's Hill, Avith the 



FROM THE OLD STATE HOUSE TO BOSTON ITEI!. 115 

South Battery at the foot of Fort Hill. It enclosed the Town 
Cove, in which the shipping lay. The Barricado extended in 
straight lines from the wharf to the terminal points, making an 
angle at the junction with Long AVharf, with the point towards 
the toAvn. It was built of wood, and ha<l openings on each 
side of Long Wharf for vessels to pass through. Apprehensions 
of invasion from the Dutch or French caused its construction. 
Atlantic Avenue now follows, substantially, the line of the 
Barricado. It crossed Long Wharf on the neck of the T, and 
two little islands to the north and south of the wharf furnished 
points of ajrjmi. Central Wharf was laid out over one of these 
islands, and large trees and stones, which had been used in 
building the Barricado, were found when excavations were 
making for the wharf. The other island was removed. The 
Old Wharf, being for defence only, was only wide enough to 
work guns ui)on. It fell into gradual decay, and the last ves- 
tiges disappeared long ago. " T " Wharf, which name has 
sometimes erroneously been connected with the Tea Party, has 
always been noted for an excellent old well of Avater, from 
whicli ships Avere supplied. ]\linutt and Andrew Faueuil 
owned it in 1718. 

When, in November, 1745, after that extraordinary and 
successful expedition, which residted in the reduction of Louis- 
burg, Governor Shirley returned home in the ]\Iassachusetts 
Frigate, a splendid reception awaited him. He first landed at 
the " Castle," where he passed the night, coming up to Boston 
in the morning in the Castle barge. About noon he landed, 
Avith his retinue, at Long Wharf, under salutes from all the 
slii])i)ing in the port and the acclamations of the people. Here 
they Avere received by the dignitaries of the iirovince and toAvn, 
and by Colonel Wendell's regiment of militia, a Chelsea com- 
])any, the Troop of Guards, and another Troop of Horse, Avith 
the Cadets under Colonel Benjamin Pollard. The ringing of 
bells, illuminations, andfircAvorks prolonged the joyful occasion. 

General Thomas Gage landed at Long Wharf in INIay, 1774, 
and Avas received by the Troop of Guards, a regiment of militia, 
and the Cadets, under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel 



IIG LANDMARKS OF BOSTON. 

Coffin. The I'eception was in the midst of a drenching rain, 
hut was, neverthek^ss, atten(h'il hy a great concoui'se of peopk"^.. 
Six years hefore this uinbreHas — or " umbrilloes," as they were 
called — Avere hrst used in Boston, and were, doubtless, put in 
requisition on tliis occasion. Nearly all the British troops that 
set foot in Boston lamled at this wharf. It was also the scene 
of the embarkation of the 5th and 38th for Breed's Hill, who 
left so many of their number on its green slope. 

The stores on the wharf, deserted by most of their owners, 
were used during the siege for the storage of military and naval 
stores, of which a consiilerabh^ quantity was recovered by 
Quartermaster-General INIifliin, — besides General Gage's char- 
iot, Avhich was taken out of the dock l)r(iken, — Avhen oiu' forces 
entered the town. After the evacuation, the British fleet re- 
mained for some time anchored at Nantasket, and was a source 
of continual alarm to the people. General Benjamin Lincoln 
organized a force which embarked from Long Wharf and took 
positions at Long and Pettick's Islands, Hull, I'(tint Alderton, 
and elsewhere. Tlie battery on Long Island sent a shot through 
the upper works of Commodore Banks's ship, when he signalled 
the fleet to get under way, blew iip the lighthouse, and vexed 
the waters of Boston harbor no more. 

When the news of the Embargo of 1812 reached the town it 
caused the greatest consternation. All the vessels that could 
get away before the port closed did so. Sunday, April 5, was 
as Inisy a day as any of the remaining six. Long Wharf, and 
every other, was crowded with trucks, sailors, and longshore- 
men. About fifty sail went to sea before tlie flag of Embargo 
was raised on Fort Hill. 

The embarkation of the troops which Avere to force the 
American works at Breed's Hill, from this wharf and from the 
North Battery (Battery Wharf), was a scene to be remembered. 
The shi})s of war furnished the boats, which were in charge of 
Collingwdod, — afterwards so famous as Xelsdu's lieutenant, — 
then a midshi})man. Eruthingham graphically describes the 
display : — 

"When a l)lue flag was displayed as a signal, the fleet, with field- 



FROM THE OLD STATE HOUSE TO BOSTON PIEH. 117 

pieces in the leading barges, moved towards Charlestown. The sun 
was shining in meridian splendor ; and the scarlet nnii'ornis, the 
glistening armor, the hrazen artillery, the regnlar movement of the 
boats, the flashes of fire, and the belchings of smoke formed a spec- 
tacle brilliant and imposing." 

" Hark, from the town a trumpet ! Tlie barges at tlie wharf 
Are crowded with the living freight, and now tliey 're pushing off. 
With clash and glitter, trump and drum, in all its bright array, 
Behold the splendid sacrifice move slowly o'er the bay 1 " 



118 LAND.AIAKKS OF BOSTON. 



CHAPTER IV. 

BRATTLE SQUARE AND TUB TOWN DOCK. 

Old Coniliill. ■ — Paul Revere. —Amos and Abbott Lawrence. — Boylston's Al- 
ley. — Barracks of the '29tli. — Blue Anchor. — Brattle Street Church. — 
General Gage. — Howe, Clinton, and Burgoyne. — John Adams. — Head- 
quarters of Stage-Coaches. — Dock S<iuare. — Tlie Conduit. — Town Dock 
Described. — Quincy Market. — Origin of Markets in Boston. — The Tri- 
angular Warehouse. — Koebuck Passage. — Clinton Street. — The Old 
Market Museum. — Old Cocked Hat. — Faneuil Hall. — D'Estaing. — 
Lafayette. — Jackson. — Prince de Joinville. — Jerome Bonaparte. — Lord 
Ashburton. — The Portraits. — Com Court. — Hancock House. — Talley- 
rand. — State Custom House. — The Couscriiitiou Riot. 

OUE way lies tlirougli that part of Old Cornhill from State 
Street to Dock Square. The Town Pump, which has heen 
referred to, stood in the middle of Cornhill, on a line with the 
north side of Court Street, giving room for vehicles to pass on 
either side. A drinking-fountaiu at the sidewalk would not 
inappropriately mark the place. 

At No. 50 Cornhill, coinciding with Crocker and BrcAvster's 
hookstore, we find Paul Revere, a man whose name occurs fre- 
cpiently in connection with the history of Boston. Descended 
from the sturdy old Huguenots, whose ancient family name was 
Rivoire, Paul Revere began business as a goldsmith, but, ere- 
long, took up the art of engraving on copper, in which he was 
self-taught ; a fact evident enough in his early attempts. 

Of his engTavings of Dr. IMayhew, and the Rescinders, he 
might have said with Beau Brummel, " These are my failures." 
" The ]\Iassacre," " Cromwell's Head," etc., show a somewhat 
truer hand. But 

" Copperplate, with almanacks 
Engraved upon 't, and other knacks," 

did not fill the measure of Revere's ingenuity. He put in oper- 
ation the first powder-mill in the pi'ovince, visiting Philadelphia 
■ — where was the only mill in the Colonies — for this purpose. 



BUATTLE SQUARE AND THE TOWN DOCK. 119 




120 LANDMARKS OF BOSTON. 

The proprietor Avoxild ouly permit the Boston mechanic to go 
through his mill ; but this was enoagh, and the Provincial Con- 
gress soon had powder. Eevere was of the Tea Party ; was 
lieutenant-colonel of a regiment of militia raised after the evacu- 
ation ; and was in the ill-starred Penobscot expedition of 1779. 
After the peace of 1783 he established a cannon and bell foundry 
at the Xorth End, and, later, Avorks at Canton for the manufac- 
ture of malleable copper bolts, spikes, etc. A company at the 
latter place still bears his name. Paul Revere was also the first 
President of the INIechanic Charitable Association. 

When the engraver was at work u})on the caricature of the 
seventeen members of the Legislature who voted, in 1768, to 
rescind the resolution to issue a circular to the Colonies calling 
a convention to oppose taxation without representation, entitled 
" A warm place. Hell," Dr. Church, Avho afterwards betrayed 
the patriot cause, dropped in, and, seeing what Eevere was do- 
ing, seized a pen and wrote : — 

" hravo Reseiiiders ! to yon yawning cell, 
Seventeen such miscreants will startle liell. 
There puny villains damned for petty sin, 
On such distinguished scoundrels, gaze and grin ; 
The outdone devil will resign his sway, — 
He never curst his millions in a day." 

Wlien Amos Lawrence first came to Boston, in 1807, from 
his native town of Groton, he began business in Cornhill, on 
the corner which makes the turn into Dock Square. We are 
assured that the rental of $ 700 per annum seemed, at that 
time, to presage ruin to the future millionnaire. ]\Ir. Lawrence, 
whom we find set down as a shopkeeper, remoA^ed afterwards to 
the situation on the opposite side of Cornhill, now occupied by 
a welhknown carpet firm. At this time he boarded Avith INfrs. 
Dexter, in Portlan<l Street, as did also his brother Abljott, an 
ai)prentice in his store. The munificent public and pri\'ate 
charities of Amos LaAvrence VAdll long perpetuate his memory. 
To Williams College he gave ui»wards of $ 40,000, and to 
Bunker Hill jMonument large sums and i)ersonal efibrt. 

Abbott LaAvrence, the apjjrentice, became an eminent Boston 
merchant, besides holding many oliices t'f public trust. Ha 



BRATTLE SQUARE AND THE TOWN DOCK. 121 

was the founder of the city of Lawrence ; was in tlie City 
Council in 1831, a member of Congress two terms, and minister 
to England from 1849 to 1852. He also founded the Lawrence 
Scientific School at Cambridge, endowing it munificently. 

We have mentioned among the peculiar features of the town 
the arches, which in variovis places tunnel the buildings, and 
furnish a short cut from street to street. A covered passage is 
now before ns, the oldest, it is believed, in Boston. Altera- 
tions have taken place in the buildings, but a similar way was 
here long prior to the Revolution. At the time of the Boston 
]\Lassacre, and for two years previous. Brattle Square was a sort 
oi place d^armes for British troops, and in the alley began a col- 
lision between some grenadiers of the 21)th and a few citizens 
on the evening of the memorable 5th of INIarcli. 

As early as 1734 John Draper, who published the Boston 
ISTews-Letter in 1732, and was printer to the Governor and 
Council, lived on the east corner, and from him it took the 
nanie of Drai)er's Alley. In 177G Benjamin Edes, the printer, 
took the house next to Draper, part of Avhich formed the alley, 
so that its present occupation by a large printing firm is entirely 
legitimate. The passage was known both as Draper's and 
Boylston's Alley. 

C)pi)osite the opening into Brattle Street was j\Iurray's Bar- 
racks, in which the 29th Avere quartered. This regiment Avas 
thoroughly hated by the Bostonians before the IMassacre, and 
after this tragedy, in Avhich it AA^as the chief actor, there is little 
question that it Avould haA'e been exterminated in detail but for 
its removal to the Castle. It is a singular fact that a major of 
the 29th, Pierce Butler, became a citizen of the United States 
and a Senator from South Carolina, becoming, in 1812, an ad- 
A'ocate for Avar against his natiA^e country. The officers of the 
29th lodged at Madame Apthorp's. Her house stood in the 
angle noAV coA'ered by the Central House. 

Where the City TaA^ern now is was once the locality of the 

Blue Anchor Tavern, but this Avas not the original "BIcav 

Anchor," Avhicli Avas in Cornhill, very near the site of the 

Globe newspaper building. The old tavern was kept in 1691 

6 



122 LAXD.MAIiKS OF BOSTON. 

by George Monck, and as early as 1GG4 by Iiul:)ert Tiiriier. 
Savage says : " At the sign of the Bhie Anchor, Turner fur- 
nished lodgings and refreshments to members of the govern- 
ment, to juries, and to the clergy, when summoned into synod 
by our General Court." The rooms in the Blue Anchor were 
designated as the " Cross Keyes," " Green Dragon," the "Anchor 
and Castle Chamber," and the "]iose and Sun Low Eoom." * 
What should we think in these days of such a bill as the fol- 
lowing abstract of an election dinner to the General Court in 
17G9 presents?— 204 dinners, 72 bottles of IMadeira, 28 of Lis- 
bon, 10 of claret, 17 of port, 18 of porter, 50 "double bowls" 
of punch, besides cider. A double Ijowl of punch held two 
quarts, enough to satisfy thirsty Jack Lalstaff himself. 

At about the same time Joseph Ingersoll, of the " Bunch of 
Grapes," furnished the Council with two dozen Madeira, three 
dozen Lisbon, four and a half gallons Vidania (" to mix with 
the Avater "), and six double bowls of punch. Only fifty cents 
in our currency Avas charged for anything eatable. Verily, 
Hutchinson and his associates were no ascetics. 

At our left hand rises the wreck of Old Brattle Street Church. 
" The tower that long liad stooil tlie crasli of thunder and the warring winds " 
is now, as we Avrite, all that is left of the historic edifice which 
dated back to 1772, just one hundred yi'ars Itefore its demolition. 

The first building was erected in llilMI, of wood, and was for 
a time known as the " Manifesto Church," in consequence of a 
declaration of princii)Ies l)y it, in answer to a protest from the 
older cburches against its more liberal form of worship. The 
old chur(j;h was never painted, and the tower and liell were on 
the west side, Avhile the entrance was at the south side. Its 
ruinous condition caused it to he rebuilt of Ijrick, as it lately 
stood, -biliu S. Copley, the painter, made a ])lan for the new 
building, l)ut it was reject'Ml on account of the expense, and 
that of Major Thomas ] );i\ves accepted. (Tovernor Hancock 
gave a thousand pounds, and a bell, on which was inscribed, — 

" I to the C'lmrch tlie living call, 
And to the grave I suninion all." 

* WJiitmere'.s Notes to Jolni Dunton's Letters. 



BRATTLE SQUARE AXD THE TOWN DOCK. 



12: 



This was the church of Cohuan, tlie (Joopers, Thacher, Euck- 
miuster, Edward Everett, Palfrey, aud Lotliroj), an array of 
clerical talent unsurpassed in the Boston pulpit. Ceneral (ia<;e 
(quartered the ^Dth in the church and vicinity, taking up his 




BRATTLE STI'.F.ET CHURCH. 

own quarters in the house op]Kjsite. Gage told Mr. Turell that 
he had no fears for his men while quartered within such walls. 
Nevertheless, the night before the evacuation a twenty-four 
pound shot from Caml)ridge struck the tower, and falling to 
the ground was picked up by Mr. Turell, and in 1824 was 
imbedded in the nuisonry, wdiere it remained until the work 
of demolition began. 

When the society sold tlie church, they reserved the ancient 
quoins, pulpit, bell, and cannon-ball. The bell given by Gov- 
ernor Hancock became cracked, and was sold ; tlie present one 
having been purchased in London in 1 809. The society voted 



124 



LANDMARKS OF BOSTON. 




WrNDOW OF BRATTLE STREET 
CHURCH, WITH BALL. 



to inak(! INfr. ^Vakefiel(l the custodian of the eannon-liall, to he 
placed Ity hiiii in the front of liis new huilding on the old site, 
— ^ and occupy the same position as in 

the chui'ch. The rustic quoins, of 
Connecticut stone, have been placed 
- inside the tower of the new church 
on Commonwealth Avenue. One of 
^ these, which had the name of John 
Hancock inscril^ed upon it, was mu- 
tilated by the King's soldiers, Avho 
owed a special spite to King Han- 
cock, as they styled him. Dr. John 
Greenleaf 's name was on another of 
the quoins. 

During the occu])ati(in by troops, 
services appear to have been held 
occasionally in the church, as the Boston Gazette, of Septem- 
ber 21, 1775, states that "the llev. Dr. JMorrisou received 
a call to preach in the elegant new church in Brattle Street, 
vacated by the flight of Dr. Cooper, and on Sunday he deliv- 
ered an excellent discourse to a genteel audience." The tenor 
of this discourse was upon the fatal conse(piences of sedition, 
and was adapted to the "genteel" audience. Of the pastors, 
besides Cooper, noted as a zealous coworker with the patriots, 
there was Buckminster, Avho had taught Daniel Webster at Ex- 
eter Academy, and was one of the originators of the Anthology 
Club ; Everett, whom Lafayette styled the young American 
Cicero, who left the pulpit for a distinguished career in public 
life ; and others who have been prominent in our annals. 

Besides Governors Hancock and Bowdoin and their families, 
Joseph "Warren, Harrison Gray Gtis, jNIadame Scott, Daniel 
Webster, John Coffin Jones, and many other distinguished 
]>(>st(inians, have sat under the ministration of the pastors of 
(Jld Ih-attle Street. 

( General Thomas C!age, whom some Avit proposed to create 
Lord Lexington, Baron of ISunker Hill, on account of his dis- 
asters here, was well acquainted with Washington, having 



BRATTLE SQUARE AND THE TOWN DOCK. 125 

fought under Braddock at Fort du Quesiie, Avliere lie (Gage) 
led the advance. "Washington, in July, 1775, became his 
adversary. Another of these intimacies existed between Gen- 
eral Charles Lee and Burgoyne, who had served together in 
Portugal. 

Gage succeeded Hutchinson as governor, in 1774, when it 
was determined by the Ministry to crush the rising spirit of 
rebellion in the Colonies. He was at first well received, but 
the course of events soon led to a wide separation between him 
and the people. After Lexington, Gage proclaimed martial 
law, ollering pardon to all offenders except Samuel Adams and 
John Hancock. Bunker Hill followed, and the British general 
soon found himself shut up in the town. In October he 
resigned and returned to England, being succeeded by Howe. 
Howe, Clinton, and Burgoyne, all arrived in Boston in the Cer- 
berus, May 25, 1775. As they came \ip the harbor they met a 
packet outward bound, and Burgoyne hailed the master and 
in(piired the news. Learning that Boston was closely besieged 
by the provincials, he demanded, " How many regulars are 
there in the town 1 " Being answered about five thousand men, 
he exclaimed, " What ! ten thousand peasants keep five thou- 
sand King's troops shut up.; well, let us get in and we'll soon 
find elbow-room." This name stuck to Burgoyne, and on a 
second visit to Boston, when the fortune of war had made him 
a prisoner, he landed at Charlestown Ferry, — where the bridge 
now is, — ■ but was extremely annoyed by an old woman, who, 
perched on a neighboring shed, kept crying out, " Make way 
there, ■ — elbow-room, — elbow-room." 

In 1768 John Adams, the future president, but then a young 
barrister, took up his residence with Mr. Bollan in Brattle 
Scpiare. The house was known as the White House. His son, 
John Quincy Adams, v,\as then only a year old. In his diary 
Mr. Adams remarks that " the town was full of troops, and 
through the whole succeeding f dl and winter a regiment was 
exercised by INIajor Small directly in front of my house." On 
the night of the IMassacre Mr. Adams was passing the evening 
at the house of Mr. Henderson Inches at the South End, where 



126 ■ LANDMArtKS OF BOSTON. 

a club, of -svliicli Adams was a memlier, used to assemble. 
Thinking tlic alarm was for a fire, lie snatched his hat and 
cloak, and went out to assist in putting it out. He did not 
reach the Town House until the all'air Avas ended, and passed 
on, through the little alley we have taken in our route, to 
Brattle Street. The 29th were drawn up in front of their 
barracks, and Adams had to pass along their ranks to reach 
his lodgings, but not a word was spoken on either side. At 
this time he lodged in Cole Lane, now Portland Street. 

Mr. Adams was elected to the General Court of jNlassachusetts 
in 1770, tliough laboring under some obloquy on account of 
his defence of Captain Preston. lie has been called the father 
of our navy, as the act passed under Washington's administra- 
tion authorizing the construction of six frigates, was vitalized 
by him, while at a still earlier day, in the Continental Congress 
of 1775, he drew up a code of regulations for a navy, that has 
formed the basis for the government of that branch of the 
service. Ambassador to England and Holland, and finally 
Chief Magistrate, John Adams, by a coincidence, died on the 
same day as Thomas Jefferson, July 4, 182G. Mr. Adams was 
termed by Jetferson tlie " Colossus " of Congress. 

Before leaving Brattle Square and its vicinity, it must not 
be forgotten that this street, Avith Elm and Union, formed the 
great headquarters of the stages before the day of railways. 
"Wilde's and Doolittle's were chief among the taverns for stage 
travel, and on a clear moniing the air resounded with the 
crack of the whips and halloo of the drivers. The starting of 
the stages was always witnessed by a gaping crowd, and their 
diurnal passage over the country roads was an event to the 
dwellers along the route, scarcely e(pialled by the later advent 
of the iron horse. The Tony AVellers of the box were great 
men in the eyes of the stable-l)i)ys and country lasses. One at 
least among them has reached tlie eminence of M. C, while 
another presides over the traffic of a great railway. 

In exploring Dock Square, we find that the old Town Dock, 
from whic'h its name is derived, flowed up to a point opposite 
the entrance of Elm Street, formerly "Wing's Lane. On the 



BRATTLE SQUARE AND THE TOWN DOCK. 127 

brink of the Dock was a watcli-linuse, and in tlie space 
formed by tlie junction of A'ortli (Auiic), Union, and Ehn 
Streets was tlie i'lat Conduit. This conduit was merely a 
reservoir of water, about twelve feet square, raised in the 
centre and sloping at the sides. It was covered with planks, 
and the platform served on Saturdays as a meal market. It is 
mentioned as early as 1G57, and was constructed perhaps not 
long after the fire of 1653. Anno Street was originally Con- 
duit Street as far as Cross, and Union Street is described in 
1732 as leading from the Conduit to the Mill Poud. 

Before Faneuil Hall was built — as early as 1708 — the 
space it covers and which surrounds it was occupied as a 
market-place, and at the foot of Merchants' liow the Dock 
was crossed by a swing-bridge, in two e(pial parts. That part 
of the Dock lying Avest of IVIerchants' Itow was filled up about 
1780 ; it was known as the j\Iarket Dock. The lower section 
of the Dock was narrower, and is now covered by North 
Market Street. At the time of the improvement of this region 
by Josiah Quiacy, in 1826, the Town Dock came up as far as 
the head of Faneuil Hall Market, or, as tliis name is now 
applied to the market in Faneuil Hall, we will say Quincy 
^larket, which the popular AviU lias clu'lstcned it. On the old 
plans of 1738 the Town Dock was flanked by Woodmansie's 
wharf on the south, and by Borland's, Bridgham's, Hill's, and 
Pitt's wharves on the north. The Mill Creek, connecting the 
Mill Cove with the Town Cove, emptied into the latter on a 
line with, and a little south of Blackstone Street, 

In the primitive order of things, it is apparent that the tide 
covered all the level ground in Dock Scpiare, as far as the bot- 
tom of Brattle Street, and all east of Union Street from Creek 
Lane on the west. Between the Mill Creek and the Town 
Dock was a triangular tongue of land, or rather marsh. All 
of the north side of the Dock seems to have been known at 
one time as the Fish Market. Shaw says, " The chief part of 
the town was built on the cove or bay which has since been 
call(?d the Town Dock." The first paragraph in the town rec- 
ords establishes the fact that in 1634 this was the chief landing- 
place. 



128 LANDMARKS OF BOSTON. 

The improvement by Mr. Quincy was tlie greatest enterprise 
of the kind tliat had been undertalcen in Boston. 15y reference 
to Quincy's History, we learn that " a granite market-house, 
two stories high, 5.35 feet Lmg, covering 27,000 feet of kind, 
was erected at a cost of .f 150,000. tSix new streets were 
opened, and a seventh greatly enlarged, including 167,000 feet 
of land, and flats, docks, and wharf rights obtained to tlie 
extent of 142,000 s(piare feet. All this Avas accomiilished in 
the centre of a populous city, not only without any tax, deljt, 
or burden upon its pecuniary resources, but with large perma- 
nent additions to its real and productive property." This im- 
provement also fecilitated the opening of Fulton and of Com- 
mercial Streets, the latter making direct communication north 
and south instead of a long detour through Xorth Street. S. 
S. Lewis was the projector of Commercial Street. 

Quincy Market, though not at once pecuniarily successful, 
soon became so. It is a monument to Mr. Quincy's genius and 
perseverance. Any other man would have succundjed to the 
obstacles he had to encounter, but he pressed on to the accom- 
plishment of Ids purpose. He invested the sluggish town with 
new life, and brought into practical use a new watchAvord, — 
Progress. At a very early hour ]\[r. Quincy Avas in the habit 
of mounting his horse, and riding through every quarter of the 
town, remedying evils or }n'ojecting new enter})rises. 

The interior of the market has always been a scene of attrac- 
tion to visitors, and a model of its kind. Admirable system 
and order prevails. Here are haunches tliat would have caused 
the royal sword to leap from its scal)bard, as when 

"Our second Cliarles of fame facete, 
On loin of beef did dine ; 
He held his sword pleased o'er the meat, 
'Rise up, our famed Sir-loin !'" 

Here are sausages in festoons ; roasting pig that would have 
made Charles Lamb's mouth Avater ; A^egetaliles in ]iarterres, 
and fruits from I'very clime. Here one may have hsh, flesh, 
foAvl, or good red herring. The countenances of those who 
seek their daily food before the stalls is a study. The poor 



BP.ATTLE SQUARE AND THE TOWN DOCK. 129 

■(.voiiian lingering over tlie coveted joint far beyond her slend(;r 
})urse is jostled by the dame who gives carte hlancke to her 
purveyor. What quantities we eat ! Sydney Smith thought 
he had eaten wagon-loads more than was good for him. The 
open mouths of the gazers upon this scene of plenty have 
been likened to so many graves yawning for the slaughtered 
herds. 

Yet plenty has not always prevailed in the town. Putnam 
came with his drove of sheep to succor the inhabitants in 1774. 
In 1775 the Town Bull, aged twenty years, was killed and sold 
for the use of the generals and officers, at eighteen pence sterling 
per pound. Perhaps Gage, in Brattle Stpiare, with his subordi- 
nates, Howe, Clinton, and Burgoyne, sat in gloomy conclave 
over a tough morsel of the patriarch, hoping vainly that " good 
digestion might wait on appetite." 

Faneuil Hall Market was begun in 1824, the corner-stono 
laid in 1825, and was finished in November, 1826. It occupied 
a little more than two years in building. North and South 
Market Streets were built at the same time, and are respectively 
sixty-five and one hundred and two feet wide. The difierence 
in the width of these streets, and in fact the position of the 
market itself, is due to the refusal of the heirs of Nathan Sjiear 
to part with their estate on any terms. By the increased width 
of South Market Street, the difficulty was overcome, as the city 
then took the estate for the street with a clear legal conscience. 
Codman's, Spear's, Bray's, and the wharves extending between 
North Market and State Streets towards the present line of 
Commercial Street, were reclaimed in this great improvement, 
and converted into solid ground, and Chatham Street was laid 
out. 

Benjamin Faneuil, Jr., was in business in Butler's Row in 
17G7, whicli, before the improvements, entered INIerchants' 
Row between Chatham and State Streets. This Benjamin 
was the nephew of Peter, of noble memory, and was one of 
the consignees of the tea ships whose cargoes were emptied 
into the dock in 1773. 

As a merchant, John Hancock had a store at the head of 



130 LANDMARKS OF BOSTON. 

wliat is now South Market Street, or, .as it was then described, 
" Store No. 4, at the east end of Faneuil Hall JNIarket. A 
general assortment of English and India (loods, al«o choice 
Newcastle Coals, and Irish Butter, cheap for Cash. Said Han- 
cock desires those j^ersons who are still indebted to the estate 
of the late Hon. Thomas Hancock, Esq., deceased, to he speedy 
in paying their respective balances to prevent trouble." * 

In Winthrop's Journal, a market is mentioned as set up by 
order of the court in March, 1G34. Its locality is not men- 
tioned, but it is believed to have been on the site of the Old 
State House. In 1734 the town located three markets, and 
appropriated £ 300 towards their erection. They were situ- 
ated in North Square, Dock Square, and on the present ground 
of Boylston Market. A bell was rung daily at sunrise to give 
notice of the opening, and one o'clock p. m. was the hour of 
closing. On the 4th of June the three markets were opened 
for the first time, and the people and dealers flocked in great 
numbers to them. 

The market in Pock Square was always the most fre- 
quented. Faneuil Hall, of which we shall presently relate the 
history, did not long provide sufficient accommodations. At 
the time of j\Ir. Quincy's improvements there was a row of 
sheds, for the sale of vegetables, on the north side of Faneuil 
Hall, in what is noAV the street. The neighboring streets were 
often obstructed with market-wagons, Avhile farmers were com- 
pelled to occupy Union Street with their stands, nearly to Han- 
over, and Washington, almost to Court Street. In 1819 a 
number of citizens erected what was known as the City IVIar- 
ket, in the large building at the foot of I'rattle Street, now 
used as a furniture warehouse by Blake and Alden ; the upper 
part was occupierl as a Gallery of Fine Arts. The General Court 
refused to incorporate the proprietors, and the city subsequently 
rejected the offer of the market as a donation. 

Retracing our steps along Ncirth Market Street, the first 
oltject of interest is the Triangular Warehouse, which stood on 
the border of the town dock, opposite the swing-bridge, until 

* Boston Eveiiii'.g Post, December 25, 1704. 



BRATTLE S(JUAI;E AND THE TOWX DOCK. 



131 



taken down in 1824 to make rodiu l\)r tlie sweopinj^f changes 
then inauguratecL Its site is now covered hy the Iniildings at 
the head of North jNhirket Street, with a moiety in Merchants' 
Iiow and Chntou Street. 

This singuhir old huilding was hnilt of hrick, of two .stories, 
on a stone foundation, with a tower at each angle ; a tower also 
rose from the centre of the roof. Each of these toAvers termi- 
nated in a pointed roof of slate, and were capped with a stone 
hall set in lead, except the middle tower, which had a Avooden 
one. The strength Avith Avhich it Avas constructed, Avith the 
quaint architecture, led for a time to the supposition that it 
was intended for a Custom House, or some other similar 
purpose, but no 
proof being 
found to support 
the belief, the 
opinion became 
general that it 
Avas erected by 
London mer- 
chants for a 
AA'arehouse, about 
1700. 



( )ne side of 
tlie Triangular 
"Warehouse fronted Eoebuck Passage, Avhich has become, by 
transition, the extension of Merchants' Eoav. The passage, 
named from a tavern called the Eoebuck, Avithin its limits, 
Avas a tortuous defile a hundred feet in length, varying in Avidth 
from thirteen to tAventy feet, but Avas still the main thorough- 
fare from the market north and sciuth. The tavern itself Avas 
a building witli a projecting upper story, and AA^as a notorious 
resort of doubtful rqnite. It Avas the scene of at least one 
deadly aflVay. liichard Whittington, a descendant of the Lord 
Mayor of London, is said to have been the builder. 

Clinton Street Avas one of the ncAV aA^enues Avhich arose out 
of the chaos of this region. The Old Mill Creek crossed it at 




TRIANGULAR WAREHOUSH. 



132 LANDMARKS OF BOSTON. 

tlie point where now stands the New England Honse, the last 
of the Boston cofi'ee-honses. The hotel is built on made laud. 
The course of the creek was altered at this point, so as to flow 
through the lower part of Clinton vStreet into the harl)or, instead 
of following its old channel into tlie dock. To eti'ect tliis plan, 
the city bought Governor Eustis's wharf, through wliicli the 
creek found an artificial outlet. • Blackstone Street has tiiken 
tlie ])lace of the creek. 

Opposite the north side of Faneuil Hall is a little alley, and 
on tlie alley, with a front on jS^orth Street, is an old landmark. 
This lofty wooden building of five cramped stories was the Old 
Boston Museum, establislied in 1804, by Philip Woods. After 
a removal to another location in Dock S(pULre for a short time, 
the Museum returned to its old stand. In 1822 the New 
England ^Museum fell heir to the greater part of the collection. 
Tlie biiilding fronted originally on j\Iarket Square, and was 
sometimes designated the Market Museum. The tinil)ers are a 
foot square ; the chambers scarcely allow a tall man to stand 
erect, whilst the staircase in its almost jierpendicular ascent is 
extremely suggestive of l)rokeu l;)ones. 

At the corner fu'ined by North Street and ]\rarket Square 
was another of those ancient structures now extinct among us. 
It was known as the " Old Cocked Hat," from its flxncied 
resemblance to an article of Avear now as obsolete as itself. 
Under the western gable, fronting Dock Square, was the date 
of 1G80. The building was of wood, covered with plaster on 
the outside, with Avhich were mixed fragments of glass bottles. 
Various ornamental tigures were traced upon this rough surface. 
On t\\'T) sides, south and southwest, tlie water once flowed, and 
in digging not far from here some years ago to settle a disputed 
boundary question, the capstan and ring-l)olt of the old wharf 
were uncovered within the present sidewalk. 

The " Old Cocked Hat " Avas of two stories, the upper pro- 
jecting, and is supposed to liaA^e been built the year folloAving 
the destructive fire of August 3, 1G79, which began about 
midnight and raged till midday of the 4th. A hundred and 
fifty dwellings and warehouses, with several ships and their 



BRATTLE SQUAKE AND THE TOWN DOCK. 



133 




ANilKNT lIiirsF. IN IXICK SQTARE. 



cargoes, were consumed. This old house was at first a dwell- 
ing, and for a time, according to Snow, the principal apothe- 
cary's shop of the town was kept there. It was taken down 
in July, 1S60. 

The feme of Faneuil Hall is as w4de as the country itself, 
it has heen called the " Cradle of Liberty," because dedicated 
by that early apostle of freedom, James Otis, to the cause of 
liberty, in a speech delivered in the hall in March, 1763. 
Somewhat of its early history has appeared in the account of 
the town government. Its walls have echoed to the voices of 
the great departed in times gone by, and in every great public 
exigency the people, with one accord, assemble together to take 
counsel within its hallowed precincts. Though much too small 
for jiopular gatherings of the present day, its long use for this 
purpose, with the many glorious associations that cluster around 
it, still mark it as the centre from Avhich the Avill of the people 
of Boston should proceed. 

The Old ]\Iai-kct-house, mentioned as existing in Dock Square 
in 1731, was demolished by a mob in 1736-37. There was 



134 



LANDMAUKS OF BOSTON. 



contention among tlie })eople as to wlR'tlier tlioy Avould be 
served at their houses in tlie old way, or resort to lixed locali- 
ties, and one set of dis}nitants took this summary method of 
settlin.L;' the (|ue.stion. Pemberton says, this mob were '' dis- 
guised like clergymen." 

In 1740, the question of the jMarket-hcmse l)eing revived, 
Peter Paneuil proposed to build one at his own cost on the 
town's land in Dock 8(|uare, upon condition that the town 
should legally authorize it, enact proper regulations, and 




FANEUIL HALL BEFORE ITS ENLAROEMENT. 



maintain it for the purpose named. INIr. Faneuil's noble offer 
was courteously received, but such was the division of opinion 
on the sul)ject, that it was accepted by a majority of only seven 
votes, out of seven hundred and twenty-seven j)ersons voting. 
The l)uilding was completed in September, 1742, and three 
days after, at a meeting of citizens, tlie hall Avas formally 
acc(!pted and a vote of thanks passed to the donor. Hon. 
Thomas Cusliing, the moderator of the meeting, the selectmen, 
and representatives of the town, were a})pointed a committee, 
" to wait upon Peter Faneuil, Esq., and in the name of the 



BRATTLE SQUARE AND THE TOWN DOCK. 135 

town, to render him their most hearty thanks for so hountiful 
a gil't." Besides this, the town voted that the hall should he 
called Faneuil Hall forever ; to procure i\Ir. Faneuil's portrait 
to he placed therein ; and later, to purchase the Faneuil arms, 
carved and gilt by Moses Deshon, to he fixed in the hall. 

The first architect of Faneuil Hall was John Smibert the 
painter ; Samuel Iluggles was the builder. It was not at first 
intended by Faneuil to build more than one story for the 
market, but with noble generosity he went beyond his original 
proposal, and built another story for a town hall. The original 
size of the building was forty by one hundred feet, just half 
the j)resent width ; the hall would contain one thousand per- 
sons. At the fire of January 13, 17G3, the whole interior was 
destroyed, but the town voted to rebuild in March, and the 
State authorized a lottery in aid of the design. The first meet- 
ing after the rebuilding was held on the 14th March, 1703, 
when James Otis delivered the dedicatory address. In 1806 
the Hall was enlarged in width to eighty feet, and by the 
addition of a third story. 

But little is left of the original 1)uilding, but a rule has been 
laid down for such as may be curious to trace the old outline : 
" Take a northeast view of the Hall, — there are seven win- 
dows before you in each story, — run a perpendicular line, from 
the ground, through the centre of the middle window to the 
top of the belt, at the bottom of the third story, carry a 
straight line from that point nearly to the top of the second 
window, on the right, in the third story. That point is the 
apex of the old pediment. From that })oint draw the corre- 
sponding roof-line doAvn to the belt, at the corner; and you 
have a profile of the ancient structure." 

A grasshopper, which still decorates the vane, made by that 
cunning artificer Deacon Shem Drowne, was long thought to be 
the crest of the Faneuils ; especially as a similar insect adorned 
the vane of the summer-house in Tremont Street. But the arms 
were extant not many years ago on some of Peter Faneuil's 
plate, in the possession of his descendants, and disproved this 
theory. No better reason has been assigned for the adoption 



loG 



LANDMARKS OF BOSTON. 




llhllinMWfiWFiT'^ 



"ifc^i^^EfiUSS 




^EW FNJNEllL n\LL WITH (^t I\C1 MAEKET 

of the grasshopper than that it was an imitation of the, vane 
of the Itoyal Exchange, London. 

Curiously enougli, the first puhHc oration dehvered in Faneuil 
Hall Avas a funeral eulogy, pronounced on the death of Peter 
Faneuil, IVIarcli 14, 1743, l)y jNIaster Lovell of the Latin School. 
In the course of his address the orator said, " May Liherty 
always spread its joyful wings over this place. IMay Loyalty 
to a king under whom we enjoy that Liberty ever remain our 
character." Master Lovell, himself a tory fugitive when Boston 
was freed from the British occupation, did not dream of the ful- 
filment of his wish — divested of its dependence on a king — ■ 
when he uttered it. 

Faneuil Hall was ilhuninated, hy a vote of the town, on tlie 
news of the repeal of the Stamp Act, and the selectmen were 
requested to make provision for drinking the king's health. 
During the winter of 1775-76 the British officers, under the 
patronage of General Howe, fitted the hall into a very neat 



BPtATTLE SQUARE AND THE TOWN DOCK. 137 

theatre, deA^oted chiefly to performances ridicndinL,^ the patriots. 
The tSuiKhiy after the battle of Lexington there was a niecting 
held in the hall by the citizens to agree with General Gage on 
regulations under which the pe(jple might leave the town. The 
strictness with which the Sabbath was then observed testiiies 
to the importance the subject had assumed. Gage communi- 
cated with the meeting through Ca[)tain Sheriff, his aide-de- 
camp, the proposal that the inhabitants might be allowed to 
depart after surrendering their arms. jSIany of the ohl ]irovin- 
cial officers, men who had served at Louisburg, were present, 
and viewed with deep chagrin the ]n'o])osition to give up the 
arms they had worn in many honorable campaigns. Gage had 
the bad faith afterwards to render his promise nugatory by ap- 
pointing a Town Major, to whom applications were made. This 
officer discriminated against those whose attachment to the 
patriot cause was known. 

In Faneuil Hall is the rendezvous of the " Ancient and Hon- 
orable Artillery Company." Its original designation was the 
" ]\Iilitary Company of the ]\Iassachusetts " ; it was also styled, 
at different periods, " The Artillery Company " and " The Great 
Artillery." The name "Ancient and Honorable " was not ap- 
plied until 1720 ; no military organization can dispute its title 
to be the oldest band of citizen-soldiery in America. The com- 
pany was formed in 1G37, and at once applied for an act of in- 
corporation, which was not granted, the rigid Puritans fearing 
to establish a ]irivileged military body which might, on occasion, 
subvert the government. The Prtvtorian Land of the Eomans 
and the Templars of Europe were cited to enforce this wise 
determination. The company was, nevertheless, permitted to 
choose a captain and make use of the common arms in their 
exercise. A charter was granted in 1638. 

Caj)tain Keayne, the first commander, has been noticed. The 
charter prohibited any other military company from parading 
on the days appointed by law for the " Artillery " ; and this ex- 
clusive privilege was maintained against the " Winslow Blues," 
in 1808, when that company assembled in Faneuil Hall on one 
of the field-days of the " Ancients." 



138 LANDMARKS OF BOSTON. 

It does not appear what the uniform of the company — if 
any was a(h)})ted — was at the beginning. Bkie and butf waa 
supposed to be the dress in 1738. By 1770 the corps stood 
arrayed in gold-laced hats, l^lue coats, buff under-clothes, and 
silk stockings, Avitli wliitc linen si^atterdashes. In 1772 an 
order was issued that wigs and hair should be clubbed. Some 
few changes were made in 1787, when shoulder-straps, to secure 
the cross-belts, and a Idack garter, worn beloAV the knee, were 
adopted; the hair to l>e Avoru en qneiie. Chapeau-ljras and 
cockade, with black plume, eighteen inches long, took the 
place of the old cocked-hat in 1810, with red lacings for the 
coat instead of buff. 

The company was assembled by beat of drum, Avhich re- 
mained the practice for many years. On days of para<le the 
drummer passed through the principal streets beating the m|»pel 
vigorously. Tlie colors Avere displayed on these occasions lV(.)m 
Colonel Daniel Henchman's b,:okstore, at the corner of King 
Street and (_)ld Cornhill, — the vacant area Avhich then existed 
under the Old State House serving the corps lV)r a rendezvous 
until the town provided an armory in Faneuil Hall. In 1 743 
halberds were used l)y sergeants, and }iikes and lialf-})ikes l)y 
the captain and lieutenant. 

The roll of the " ^Vncients " presents a host of names distin- 
guished in Colonial and Kevolutionary history. To enumerate 
them would be impossil)le within our limits. The oLl custom 
of " Artillery Election," Avhen the old officers retire and the 
new are commissioned by the governor, is still scrupulously 
observed. The " Election Sermon " is still preached as in the 
days of Colman and Sewall. 

During the reception of Count D'Estaingin Septemlier, 1778, 
a superb entertainment was given him at Faneuil Hall, at which 
five hundred guests were present. 

AVhen Lafayette was in Boston, in 1781, the merchants gave 
him a dinner at Faneuil Hall. At every toast thirteen cannon 
were discharged in JNIarket Scpiare by ]\Iajor Davis's train of 
Artillery. The picture of Washington had been concealed by 
drapery, and "when in the course of the ban(piet it was uu- 



BRATTLE SQUARE AND THE TOWN BOCK. 139 

veiled, the ]\Iarquis rose to liis feet, cla])pe(l liis liiinds, and 
seemed dee2)ly moved as lie gazed on tlie features of liis old 
commander. The audience was not less afl'ected than the dis- 
tinguished guest. The Marquis was fond of identifying him- 
self Avith the Americans, and in this way won their love and 
admiration. Being asked by a lady on one occasion if the black 
cockade Avas not the color worn by the Continental officers, he 
replied : " Yes, madame, but we added the white out of com- 
])liment to the French Avhen they joined us." 

The following anecdote is related by Mr. Dean, in his memoir 
of Daniel Messinger : — 

"An amiising incident occurred once at a dinner given Prince 
Jerome Bonai)arte in 1804. It is stated on the authority of Josiah 
Quincy, that alter dinner Colonel Daniel Messinger sang the favorite 
old song of 'To-morrow.' As the audience joined in the chorus of 
' To-morrow, To-morrow,' a cloud came over the countenance of the 
Prince, and taking his next neighbor by the arm he exclaimed, ' To 
Moreau ! To Moreau ! Is it a song in honor of General Mureau I ' 
He was qvuckly undeceived, and smiled when he found that no one 
but himself was thinking of the great rival of his brother." 

President Jackson visited Boston in June, 1835, accompanied 
by Secretaries Cass and "Woodbury, and Mr. Poinsett of South 
Carolina. The occasion was the opening of the new Dry Dock 
at Charlestown, and the docking of the frigate Constitution. 
The President held a public reception in Faneuil Hall. Com- 
modore Hull, ]\[r. "Winthrop, ami Mr. Van Buren were present. 
The Vice-president was described as a tight, snug, compact, 
vigorous-looking little body, with a l>right, keen, twinkling 
little eye and Avinning smile. Both he and Mr. Woodbury were 
very bald. ]\Ir. Cass was not present. 

The visit of the Prince de Joinville to Boston in November, 
1841, was rendered memorable by a grand ball given in his 
honor at Faneuil Hall. The Prince had come over to New 
York in La Belle Poule frigate, the same that conveyed the 
ashes of the great Napoleon from St. Helena to France. The 
town was all agog for the expected visit of the Prince, and when 
he appeared at the ball simply attired in a blue naval uniform. 



140 land:\iakks of bostox. 

the enthusiasm was extreme. The Prince wore no decoration, 
except the ribhon of the Legion of Honor, and devoted himself 
assiduously to the ladies to whom he was introduced. The old 
hall was beautifully decorated with flags and devices specially 
designed for the occasion. 

Alexander Baring, Lord Ashburton, negotiator with My. 
"Webster of tlie treaty whicli bears his name, was Avelcomed to 
Boston in Faneuil Hall, August 27, 1842, by Mayor Chap- 
man. From him Ashljurton ]^lace takes its name. As one of 
the great house of liaring Brothers, he resided some time in 
the LTnited States, lie and Webster were on terms of close 
intimacy. 

The Earl of Elgin, Avhile governor-general of Canada, visited 
Boston to attend the jubilee upon the opening of the Grand 
Trunk liailway. lie was accompanicul by a numerous stati', 
and received the honor of a grand ball at Faneuil Hall. 
Among the officers who accompanied him, none attracted more 
attention than those of a Highland regiment, — stalwart, Ijare- 
legged fellows in bonnet, kilt, and tartan. 

Among the attractions to the old ('radio of Liberty, the por- 
traits which adorn the walls are not the least, and it is to be 
regretted that some which have hung there and would now be 
highly prized Avore either destroyed or sjiirited away by vamlal 
hands. Shortly after the death of Mr. Faneuil, Governor Shir- 
ley informed the .selectmen that he had received his Majesty's 
picture through the hands of the Duke of Grafton, ami soon 
after the likeness of Ck'orge 11. was hung in tlie hall. The 
town had solicited the portraits of Colonel Barre and ( ieneral 
Conway, their able defemlers on the floor of Parliament. The 
request was complied with, and tiie pictures senii over in 1767, 
but they disappeared from the hall after the British evacuated 
the town. 

The west end of the hall is covered with paintings. The 
large ]>i(;ture by Ilealey, representing "Webster re])lying to 
Ilayue in the Senate, iirst attracts the view. The portraits of 
John Hancock and Samuel Adams are by Copley, as is that 
of Joseph "Warren. The Adams has been called Copley's mas- 



BRATTLE SQUARE AND THE TOWN DOCK. 141 

ter-piece, and was painted for Governor Hancock, Liit on the sale 
of his etFects became the property of S. A. AVells, and finally of 
Adam W. Thaxter, who presented it in 1842 to the city. The 
full length of Peter Faneuil is a copy of a smaller painting in 
the Historical Society's possession. It is by Colonel Henry Sar- 
gent, and was presented by Samuel Parkmau, as was also the full 
length of Washington, by Stuart. The portraits of Ptufus Choate 
and Abraham Lincoln are by Ames, that of Governor Andrew by 
Hunt. General Henry Knox is by Gilbert Stuart. Commo- 
dore Prel)]e, one of the only two he ever sat for, is probably a 
Stuart. The superb clock was the gift of the school children. 

Corn Court took its name from the corn market which was 
once held on the south side of the Town Dock. Entering its 
recesses, unknown to half the town, we find the oldest inn in 
Boston, now called the Hancock House. This may well have 
been the site of Samuel Cole's old inn. Altered in some re- 
spects, the building presents a front of brick, with wooden side- 
walls. A dilapidated sign, bearing the weather-stained features 
of Governor Hancock, retains a feeble hold of its fastenings. 

This was the old Brasier Inn, at which Talleyrand sojourned 
when in Boston in 1795. He afterwards became the guest of 
Mr. William Lee, in Water Street. Mr. Lee's residence, a 
two-story wooden house, stood near the site of the new Post- 
Office, and was removed not many years ago. TallejTand, the 
future prime minister and evil genius of Napoleon, was ban- 
ished from France, and made 'his way to the United States, 
accompanied by the Due de la Eochefoucauld Liancourt and 
M. de Beamnetz. At the same time Robespierre proscribed 
him in France, Pitt also proscribed him in England. He went 
first to Philadelphia, where Congress was sitting, and entered 
freely into the political questions then being agitated. He was 
intimate with Jefferson, and intrigued with the opposition to 
prevent the accomplishment of a treaty between England and 
the United States. On his return to France, after an absence 
of little more than a year, he was accused of having worn the 
white cockade in America. He wrote from the United States 
to Madame de Genlis : "I think no more of my enemies ; I 
occupy myself in repairing my fortune." 



142 LAND:MArKKS OF BOSTON. 

Talleyrand visited the studio of CJilbert Stuart. Tlio latter, 
who was a great physioguoiuist, after an attentive examination of 
the features of his visitor, remarked to a friend, " If that man 
is not a villain, the Almighty does not write a legible hand." 
Talleyrand was no friend to the United States, as was soon 
manifest in the capture of our vessels by the Frencli cruisers 
when he came into power, which resulted in a quasi state of 
war with the French Iiepublic. 

M. de Talleyrand returned to Europe in an American vessel, 
connnanded by a man named A^idal, to whom he took a great 
liking. He signalized las arrival in Hamljurg by an amour, 
which, in its dei)lorable results, made the language of Stuart 
prophetic. His adventure with the young and beautiful Baron- 
ess de S , a jmpil of IMadame de Genlis, is a matter of 

history. The unfortunate lady, better known as " Cordelia," 
being deserted by Talleyrand, put an end to her life with a 
small American penknife, the gift of her lover, which she 
thrust into her heart. Upon her talile was lound an open note 
directed to M. de Talleyrand. The contents were as follows : — 

" I have burnt all your letters. They did no honor to my memory 
nor to your heart. You are the author of my death ; may God for- 
give vou, as I do ! ,, ^, ,, 
^ - ' "Cordelia.' 

The brick building now occupied as a wine store, on the 
south side of Faneuil Hall, is one of the antiquities of the 
neighborhood, having stood for nearly a century unmoved 
amid the mutations that have swept over that locality. 

Opposite the southeast corner of Faneuil Hall was located 
the Custom Honse under the State government, James Lord, 
Collector. Hon. James Lovell was Collectur in 1 789. 

Dock S(piare was the scene of one of the incidents of the 
Conscription liiots of 18G3. The mob, after a fruitless assault 
upon the gun-house in Coo])er Street, proceeded in this direction 
with intent to su]jply themselves with arms fi'om the stores of 
the dealers in weapons. They were so promptly met, however, 
Ijy the police force, which behaved Avith signal bravery on this 
occasion, that no serious results follnwcd, and, the military soon 
arriving on the ground, the riot fell still-born. 



FROM BOSTON STONE TO THE NOIITH BATTERY. 143 



CHATTER V. 

FROM BOSTON STONE TO THE NORTH BATTERY. 

The North End. — Boston Stone. — Painter's Anns. — Louis Philippe. — 
Union, Elm, and Portland Streets. — Benjamin Franklin's Residence. — 
The Blue Ball. — Lyniau Beeclier's Church. — Benjamin Hallowell. — 
Green Dragon. — Pope Day. — St. Andrew's Lodge. — Mill Pond. — Cause- 
way. — Mill Creek. — North Street. — Sir D. Ochterlony. — Eastern Stage - 
House. — Cross Street. — The Old Stone House. — New Brick Church. — 
Tlie Red Lyon. — Nicholas Upshall. — Edward Randolph. — North Scjuare. 

— Sir H. Frankland. — Major Shaw. — Pitcairn. — Old North Church. — ■ 
Cotton, Samuel, and Licrease Mather. — Governor Hutchinson. — General 
Boyd. — Fleet Street. — King's Head Tavern. — Bethel C'liurch. — Father 
Taylor. — Hancock's Wharf. — Swinging Signs. — First Universalist Church. 

— First Methodist. — New North. — Ship Tavern. — Noah's Ark. — Salu- 
tation Tavern. — The Boston Caucus. — The North Battery. — Trucks and 
Truckmen. 



WE now invite the reader to accompany us into the N"orth 
End, a section of the town Avhich became settled after 
the more central portion we have been traversing. It contains 
more of its original features than any other quarter ; many of 
its old thoroughfares are but little altered, and retain tlieir 
ancient names. As for the buildings, as we plunge deeper into 
this region, we shall find some of 
those old structures that still link 
us to the olden time. Weather- 
stained, tottering, and decrepit as 
they are, not many years will 
elapse before the antiquary will 
seek in vain for their relics. 

hnbedded in the rear wall of a 
building which fronts on Hanover 
Street, and presents its westerly 
side to Marshall Street, is the Boston Stone. Of the tliou- 
sands who daily hurry through this narrow way, the greater 




14-4 LANDMARKS OF BOSTON. 

part are luiconscious of its existence. The stone bears the 
date 1737, and seems to have got its name from the famous 
London Stone, which served as a direction for the shops in its 
neighborhood, as did the Boston Stone for its vicinity. It was 
brought from England about 1700, and was used as a paint- 
mill by the painter who then occupied a little shop on these 
premises. The spherical stone which now surmounts its fellow 
was the grinder, and Avas for a time lost, l)ut was discovered in 
digging the foundation for the present edilice. The larger stone 
is only a fragment of the original, which was split into four 
pieces when placed in its present position. Its capacity is said 
to have been nearly two barrels. 

Following the custom of the times, the painter placed in the 
front of his house the coat of arms carved in wood now in the 
Hanover Street front, from which his dAvelling was known as 
the "Painter's Arms." Tliough it bears the date of 1701, the 
coat of arms, representing probably the guild of painters, ap- 
pears in excellent preservation. In 1835 the old " Painter's 
Arms " was taken down, and the tablet transferred to the build- 
ing which replaced it. 

Opposite to Boston Stone is an anticpiated but well-preserved 
brick building standing quietly aloof from the neighboring and 
busy street. This building makes the corner — on Creek Lane 
— of a row of three or four venerable brick structures extend- 
ing towards Blackstone Street. These were built shortly after 
the peace by John Hancock, and are to this day called " Han- 
cock's Kow." Times were depressed, and Hancock's bounty gave 
cmi)loyment to many deserving and needy artisans. The row 
at first extended to the creek whose waters have long since 
ceased to flow. 

Tlie Iniilding first mentinned was the office of Ebenezer 
Hancock, brother of the governor, and deputy paymaster-gen- 
eral of the Continental army. Here, when the town was under 
the government of Greene and Heath and Gates, a sentinel 
paced liefore the door, never, we may l^elieve, deserted liy the 
needy officers of the Continental line. The lower floor lias 
groaned beneath the weight of the French crowns sent us by 



FKO.M BOSTON STONE TO THE NOllTII BATTERY, 145 

his Most Cliristian Majesty, our excellent ally, brought over 
by the fleet of D'Estaiiig. 

How the poor fellows' eyes must have sjtarkled when they 
received their long arrears in King Louis's bright silver 
crowns ! The order of Gates or Heath was now a talisman to 
unlock the strong-box of the paymaster, and for once it was 
not empty. Paymaster Hancock occupied the house also as his 
residence. 

William Pierce was a well-known barber at Boston Stone in 
1789, and he continued to follow his calling until nearly a 
hundred years old. His shop was a sort of exchange for the 
gossip current at the North End, and was frequented by many 
celebrated residents of that locality. It was Pierce's boast that 
he had shaved Franklin, and he related that Franklin told him 
he was born at the corner of Union and Hanover Streets. He 
had also preserved a tradition that the Hancocks formerly 
resided in Hatters' Square. John Norman, also known as an 
engi'aver of some repute, had his printing-oflice at Boston Stone 
in 1784. 

At the corner of j\Iarshall and Union Streets lived, in 1798, 
James Amblard, a tailor. Amblard, a Frenchman by birth, 
had the honor of being the host of the Due de Chartres, after- 
wards Louis Philippe, during his residence in Boston, to which 
allusion has been made. While awaiting funds from Europe, 
Louis found himself obliged to resort to teaching the French 
language here, until he and his brothers were relieved by remit- 
tances from their mother. The Duke returned to London in 
1800, and resided at Twickenham. According to l\Ir. Kason, 
the future king of France was intimate with the fother of Wm. 
B. Fowle, Esq., the educator, and often played chess with him 
of an evening, presenting on his departure a set of chessmen 
still preserved in the foniily. 

Union Street was named from the British Union. Creek 
Lane reminds us of the mill creek to which it led. Cole Lane, 
or Cold Lane, has taken the name of Portland Street, and at 
first extended only as far as the Mill Pond. Elm Street was 
Wing's Lane. Elm, Hanover, and Salem Streets were aU 
7 J 



146 



LANDMARKS OF BOSTON. 



■widened under the town government ; before this they were 
the merest lanes. 

Emerging from Union Street into Hanover, we stand on the 
corner which disputes with ]\[illc Street the lionor of being the 
birthplace of Benjamin Franklin. The student who ])atiently 
investigates the (daims of the rival localities will be likely at 
last to exclaim with ]\Iercutio, — 

"A plague o' both the houses ! " 

Franklin's own statement, as given by himself to a person 
worthy of credit, was that he Avas born on this now famous 
corner, while other evidence goes to contradict it. That his 
early youth was passed here is certain. Here he practised the 
art of making tallow candles for his father, and employed his 
leisure in throwing rubbish into the neighboring Mill Pond. 
From liere he wended his way through Hanover and Court 
Streets t(j the Latin School, and, after his father's business 
became distasteful to him, to his brother's printing-office in 
Queen Street. 

The sign of Josias Franklin, father of Benjamin, was a Blue 

Ball, suspended by an 
iron rod from the front 
-"^ — == — ^;5^ of his shop, which stood 
at the southeast corner 
of Hanover and ITnion 
iLlRi^ ll'y'^HP Streets. Before the streets 

were numbered, and while 
Sliii ^^^^ tlie l)uildings were scat- 

tered, it was the universal 
custom among the inhab- 
TUF. BLUR BALL. itants to dcsignatc their 

shops by some endjLan. Thus Ave find the " Heart and Crown," 
"Tlu-ee Xuus and a Coml)," and "Brazen Head" in Cornhill, 
" Three Doves " in ]\rarlborough Street, " Tun and Bacchus " 
and "Three Sugar Loaves and Canister" in King Street. This 
last was thus distinguished from the "Two Sugar Loaves" 
in Cornhill : — 




FROM BOSTON STONE TO THE NORTH BATTERY. 147 




SIGN OF THREE DOVES. 



"Oft the peasant with inquiring face, 
Bewildered, trudges on from i)Iace to place ; 
Pie dwells on every sign with stupid gaze. 
Enters the narrow alley's donhtful maze. 
Tries every winding court and street in vain, 
And doubles o'er his weary steps again." 

The old house was quite small and of two stones, to Avhich 
a third was added in later times. It Avas 
partially destroyed by tire in 185S, and 
in the same year the city took the build- 
ing to Aviden Union Street. When the 
widening of Hanover Street took place, 
the old site was partially taken for that 
street. In the same way, by the plan of 
cutting off wholly from one side of the 
street, a number of quite noted landmarks 
disappeared. It was the intention of the 
owners to have removed the Franklin 
building to another location, but it was 
found impracticable. Two relics of it are, however, preserved. 
The Blue Ball is in the possession of General Ebenezer W. 
Stone of Boston, and from the original timbers was made a 
chair which was presented to the ]\Iechanic Charitable Asso- 
ciation. 

There are two original portraits of Franklin in the Public Li- 
brary, — one by Duplessis, presented by Hon. Edward Brooks ; 
the other by Greuze, presented by Gardner Brewer. 

Corresponding with Xo. 97 Hanover Street, once stood the 
church of Dr. Lyman Beecher, the eminent divine, father of 
Henry Ward Beecher. The church was erected in 1826, and 
consumed by fire on the night of the 31st December, 1829. 
Report says, a quantity of liipior was found by the firemen in 
the cellar. It was built of rough granite, had a central tower, 
and in general appearance was not unlike the old Brattle Street. 
After the destruction of their house, the society united in build- 
ing the church in Bowdoin Street, which was completed in 
June, 18.31. Dr. Beecher was the first pastor, having been set- 
tled in March, 1826, but in 1832 he removed to Cincinnati. 



,148 LANDMARKS OF BOSTON. 

The society was originally formed from mem1)Grs of Park Street, 
the Okl South, and Union (_'h arches. 

The Hanover Clwrch stood on the site of Benjamin Ilallow- 
ell's old residence, which was ransacked by the same mob that 
pillaged Lieutenant-Ciovernor Hutchinson's house in August, 
1765. Mr. Hallowell was a comptroller of customs, and as 
such, regarded with special hatred by the populace. The mob 
destroyed or carried oif everything of value, including a small 
sum of silver. Hallowell then removed to an elegant mansion 
at Jamaica Plain, which was afterwards confiscated. One of 
his suns, I>. Carew, became a distinguished ]]ritish admiral. 
Hon. John Coffin Jones also lived on the Hallowell estate. 
Captain Henry Prentiss, a Pevolutionary soldier and one of 
the Tea Party, lived also on this spot. He was a distinguished 
merchant and ship-owner. 

The Green Dragon Tavern in Union Street was the greatest 
celebrity among all the old Poston hostelries. It stood facing 
towards the street, on a little alley running from Union Street 
around by the rear, but by the increased width of tlie street 
the site now abuts upon it, and is marked liy a freestone tablet 
set in the wall Avith a dragon sculptured upon it in bas-relief."' 
This was the sign of tlie old tavern, which was on tlie west 
side of Union, a short distance from Hanover Street. In early 
times it was the property of Lieutenant-Coveruor Stoughton, 
and Avas used as a hos[)ital during the Revolution. It was a 
two-story brick I)uilding with pitch roof. Prom aboA'e the en- 
trance projtMtted an iron rod on Avhich was crouched the fal)led 
monster of antiijuity. 

"William Stoughton, Lieutenant-Governor from 1G92 to his 
death in 1701, was one of the " Council of Safety" which 
deposed Andros. As Chief Justice of the Court he has 
acquired a fearful celebrity in connection with tlie witchcraft 
trials. 

"We have seen that "Warren, John Adams, Pevere, and Otis 
Avere neighbors. The former Avas the iirst Grand blaster of the 
first Grand Lodge of Masons Avho held their meetings in the 

* Many think tlic tablet incorrectly placed. 



FROM BOSTON STONE TO THE NORTH BATTERY. 149 

Green Dragon. The rest of the patriots came here to plan or 
t,o confer. I low nnicli "treason" was hatched nnder this roof 
will never be known, bnt much was unipiestionably concocted 
within the walls of the masonic lodg(!. It is upon their record 
that they adjourned on account of the memorable Tea Party, 
for which they furnished no inconsiderable number. 

Paul Iicvere says : " In the fall of 1774 and winter of 1775 
I was one of upwards of thirty, chielly mechanics, who formed 
ourselves into a committee for the purpose of watching the 
movements of the British soldiers and gaining every intelli- 
gence of the movements of the tories. We held our meetings 
at the Green Dragon Tavern. This committee were astonished 
to find all their secrets known to General Gage, although every 
time they met, every member swore not to reveal any of their 
transactions except to Hancock, Adams, Warren, Otis, Church, 
and one or two more." The traitor proved to be Dr. Church, 
wlio was afterwards arrested for treasonable correspondence 
with the enemy. 

The early meetings of the jNIassachusetts Charitable Associa- 
tion, organized in 1795, were held here and at Concert Hall. 
It was always a f\ivorite resort for tlie mechanics of the North 
End. When the convention was sitting which was to consider 
the adoption of the Federal Constitution, a great mass meeting 
of Boston mechanics assembled in the Green Dragon, which 
gave so emphatic an expression in favor of its acceptance that 
Samuel Adams said, " If they want it, they must have it." 

Qua of the old customs long observed in Boston was the 
celebration of Pope Day, as Xovember 5th, the anniversary of 
tlie Gunpowder Plot, was called. A bitter animosity existed 
between the Xorth and South Enders, whose line of demarca- 
tion was the Mill Bridge on Hanover Street. Each section had 
its procession and its pope, and when the rival parties met, a 
battle ensued with fists, sticks, and stones, and one or the other 
of the popes was captui'ed. The Xorth End pope 'was never, 
it is said, taken but once. 

Pope Day was a saturnalia. A stage was erected on Avheels, 
on which was placed a figure of the pope seated in a chair. 



150 LANDMARKS OF BOSTON. 

Beliind tliis was a female scarecrow called Xancy Dawson, with 
effigies of Admiral ]5yng and tlie Devil hanging from a gallows. 
Much ill-blood arose from these conflicts, the effects of which 
remained until the anniversaiy came round again. Governor 
Hancock, considering this foolish rivalry prejudicial to the pa- 
triot cause, used every effort to sul)due it, but without effect. 
He at last gave a supper at the (ireen Dragon Tavern, Avhich 
cost him $ 1,000, to which he invited all tlie leading men of 
both parties, and invoked them in an eloquent speech to lay 
aside their animosity for their country's sake. The appeal was 
successful, and the rival parties shook liands before they sepa- 
rated. From that time Pope Day ceased to agitate the warring 
factions.*' 

The Green Dragon, also known as the " Freemason's Arms," 
is specially noted in the annals of Masonry in Boston. It was 
purchased by St. Andrew's Lodge before the Eevolution, and 
remained in their possession more than a century. The lodge 
Avas organized under a charter from the Grand Lodge of Scot- 
land in 1756, and was chiefly composed of residents of the 
North End. There were several lodges in the British regi- 
ments that landed in Boston in 17G8 and 1774, and St. An- 
drew's Lodge unitctl with them in organizing a Grand Lodge. 
The first Lodge of Freemasons met in Boston July 30, 1733. 
It was the first in the Colonies, receiving authority from Lord 
Montague, Grand Master of England. Daniel Webster styled 
the Green Dragon the Headquarters of the Revolution, a name 
to which it has an undoubted claim. In the Green Dragon the 
Sandemanians held their first meetings in America. In later 
times it was kept l^y Daniel Simpson, the veteran musician. 
On the corner wliere now stands the Baptist Church building 
was formerly a l^rewery. 

The Mill Pond, or Cove, mentioned in tlie Introduction, once 
covered all the tract embraced witliin North and South ]\Iargin 
Streets, being divided from tlie sea on the nortliwest by the 
Causeway, now Causeway Street. Tlie stationdiouse of the 
Boston and Maine Railway stands in the midst of this ^lill 

* General Suniner's Reminiscences. 



FROM BOSTOX STONE TO THE NORTH BATTERY. 151 




FinST BAPTIST CHURCH IN 1853. 



Pond, while the Lowell, Eastern, and Fitchbiirg occiipy sites 
beyond the Causeway rescued from the sea. The high ground 
sloyiing away from (ilrecn and Leverett .Streets once marked the 
boundary of the Cove in that direction, whilst the eastern mar- 
gin, reaching to Distill-houso 
Square, included all of Haymar- 
ket S(|uaro. On the northern 
shore the water covered Eudicott 
Street, reacliing to Prince, below 
Thacher, and penetrated to the 
rear of P>aldwin Place, almost to 
Salem Street. AVhen the Second 
Baptist Church was situated in ;'i| 
Baldwin Place, candidates for 
baptism were immersed in the 
rear of the church. Before En- 
dicott Street was laid out, about 
183G, over a part of what was 
known as the " Old Way," Prince Street was the thoroughfare 
to Charlesto^\Ti. The Mill Pond thus embraced an area as large 
as the Common. 

The origin of the Causeway was in a footpath of the Indians 
over a more elevated part of the marsh. One INIr. Crabtree 
raised and widened this primitive path into a dam to retain the 
waters of the pond. 

In 1643 the town granted Henry Simons and others a tract, 
including the Mill Pond and flats west of the Causeway, on 
condition of their building one or more corn-mills, and bridging 
the Mill Creek at Hanover and North Streets. INIills were ac- 
cordingly erected at the west end of the creek called the South 
Mills, and at either end of the Causeway. The North ]\[ills 
stood very near the junction of Thacher and Endicott Streets. 
These were a grist-mill and a saw-mill ; a chocolate-mill stood 
at a little distance beyond in after times. 

In 1804 the grant came into possession of the j\Iill Pond 
Corporation. The town in 1807 released the original obliga- 
tion to maintain the mills and bridges forever, and the work of 



1'52 LANDMAKKS OF BOSTON. 

filling commenced, Copp's and Beacon Hills furnishing the ma- 
terial for this purpose. The process of lilling occupied twenty- 
five years before it was fully completed, and during that time 
the Mill Pond was the rece[)tacle for all the rubl^ish from the 
streets. 

The Mill Creek, whose outlet into the Town Dock has been 
traced, was doubtless in some form an original feature of the 
peninsnla. The want of an early niap is keenly felt in any 
elfort to establish the structure of the original surface. AVin- 
throp says, the north part of the town " was sejiarated from the 
rest by a narrow stream wliich was cut through a neck of land 
by industry." Hanover Street was this neck, and all iiorth of 
the creek was an island known in times past as the " Island of 
Boston," An order of the court in 1G31, levying £30 on the 
several plantations for clearing a creek and opening a passage to 
the new town, supports the view that a small A^'ater-course 
existed here which finally became a means of communication 
between the To^vn Dock and INIill Cove. 

. The creek, at first furnishing a supply of water for the tide 
mills, became in process of time a canal, "with walls of stone, 
wide and deep enough to permit the passage of boats and even 
sloops from the harbor on the east to the river on the west. As 
such, it was an extension of the JNIiddlesex Canal, incorporated 
in 1793, and of which Loammi ..Baldwin was engineer. The 
boats entered the canal at C'hebusford on the jMerrimack, and 
jiassed on to the Avharves on the east side of Boston, a distance 
of thirty miles. Blackstone Street, named from the fonnder of 
Boston, is built npt)n the bed of the canal. 

The old ]\Iill Bridge thrown over Hanover Street Avas rebuilt 
in IGSC) ; was taken np in 1793 and replaced by a stone arch 
over which the pavement was continued. At North Street 
where the creek crossed was a drawbridge, from Avhich this 
street was sometimes called Drawbridge Street. The passage 
of vessels being discontinued, the creek, which had an average 
width of twenty feet, was planked over heri\ 
- The IN'orth End Avas Init three streets wide in older times. 
These were North, Hanover, and Salem Streets. The former. 



FROM BOSTON STONE TO THE NORTH BATTERY. 153 

besides a nuinl:)er of aliases already gi'^'*^^) ^'^'^^ known alon^ its 
course first as the Fore, or Front Street, and also as Anne, Fish, 
and Ship Street. Hanover was Middle Street from the Mill 
Creek to Bennet Street, beyond which it was Xorth Street. 
Salem Avas called Back Street as far as Prince, and at one 
period Green Lane. All these retain their original names in 
part, except North, which has ever enjoyed a reputation not 
inferior to the Seven Dials of London or Five Points of New 
York. Crowded at one time through its entire length with 
brothels and low dram-shops, Anne Street took a new name 
before its character was improved. 

"And on the broken pavement here and tliere, 
Doth many a stinking sprat and herring lie ; 
A brandy and tobacco sliop is near, 
And liens, and dogs, and hogs are feeding by, 
And here a sailor's jacket hangs to dry. 
At every door are sunburnt matrons seen, 
Mending old nets to catch tlie scaly fry ; 
Now singing shrill, and scolding eft between ; 
Scolds answer foul-mouthed scolds ; bad neighborhood, I ween." 

Laid out along the original Avater-front, wharves extended 
from Anne Street into the harbor. Over these Commercial 
Street is now built. In colonial times Anne Street bore a 
better reputation, and many of the magnates of the town found 
their residence in it. It was widened in 1859 and greatly im- 
proved, and is now for some extent devoted to business pur- 
poses. 

At the lower corner of Xorth and Centre Streets, formerly 
called Paddy's Alley, stands an old two-story brick house. 
The front wall has apparently been rebuilt, but the remainder 
of the structure bears the genuine stamp of antiquity. This 
Avas the home of Sir David Ochterlony, Bart., son of a royal- 
ist, and a Bostonian by birth. 

It was not those alone who served under their country's flag 
that gained celebrity during the Revolutionary War. Among 
those who entered the British service were seven young Bosto- 
nians, Avho arrayed themselves against their native land, and 
finally became generals or admirals in that service. Their 
7* 



154 LANDMARKS OF BOSTON. 

names arc Goneral Jolm (Juifm, Tliomas Aston Coffin, Bart., 
lUr^GV Hale Sheaffe, Bart., Admiral 8ir Isaac Coffin, Ceneral 
Hugh McKay Gordon, B. Ilallowell, and Sir David Ocliterlony. 

The latter, befcjre whose home we are pausing, was a Latin- 
School boy, went to India at eighteen, served in the Indian 
wars, and was at the great conflict of Delhi. For his services 
in India Ocliterlony was made a major-general in 1814 and 
baronet in the year following. The name indicates his Scotch 
origin. Unlike his fomous companions. Sir David did not lind. 
himself compelled to serve against his countrymen. 

At a little distance from this corner we find in Centre Street 
the old brick stable of the Eastern Stage-House, the head(piar- 
ters for many years of stages Ijound to Portland and the east- 
ward. It was kept by Colonel Ephraim "Wildes, and ranked 
with Earl's, Doolittle's, and other principal rendezvous of this 
kind. 

. The entrance on Xorth Street was by a large arch, through 
which you passed into a court-yard of large area. Descending 
from the coach you entered the main building by a flight of 
steps, where good cheer and hearty welcome always aAvaited the 
tired traveller. 

Cross Street, in 1708, extended from the Mill Pond to the 
sea. At the corner of Anne Avas the Cross TaA'ern ; its name 
was, like ]\Iiddle and Back, descriptive. It was an important 
thoroughf;ire in former times, but is chiefly interesting to the 
antiquarian on account of the Old Stone House that stood be- 
tween Hanover and Xorth, about midway on the east side. The 
interest which attached to it was chiefly on account of its age, 
though conjecture has assigned to it the uses of a jail and gar- 
rison house under the old colony. It was built of rough stone, 
with the large brick chimneys on the outside, and stood for 
aliout two hundred years. It was very early described as the 
" Stone House of Deacon John Phillips, in the cross street." 
Tradition has ascribed to it the first place of meeting of the 
town overseers, and Pemberton vouches for the finding of loop- 
holes in the walls while it was under repair. N^one of these 
garrison houses, so conunonly erected in the scattered villages 



FROM BOSTON STONE TO THE NORTH BATTERY, 155 

for defence against the Indian foe, are known to have been built 
in Boston. The Ohl Stone House was removed in 1864, and 
a part went to make the foundation of an East Boston church. 
.Savage's Police liecord gives the following description of the 
Old Stone House, which he says, " at first consisted of two 
wings of uniform size joining each other and forming a right 
angle. Each wing was forty feet long, twenty feet wide, and 
two stories high, the wings fr<uiting the south and west. There 
Avas one door in the end of each wing on the first stcny, and a 
single circular window in the second story over the doors ; there 
were also two circular windows in each story of each wing in 
front, but neither door nor window in either wing in the rear. 
The founilation walls were four feet thick or more ; the Avails 
above ground were two feet in thickness, and built entirely of 
small quarried stones, unlike anything to be seen in this neigh- 
borhood, and were probal)ly brought as ballast from some part 
of Europe." 

Passing the Old Hancock School, now a police-station, and 
Board Alley, so narrow a drunken man could not fixll to the 
right or left, we arrive at liichmond Street, formerly Bridge 
Lane, and according to some authorities the old Beer Lane. 

The "'New Brick" or "Cockerel" Church was first built on 
this spot in 1721, and originally came out of the New Xorth 
Church. The figure of the cock was i)laced ujjon the first vane 
in derision of Rev. ^Ir. Thacher, Avhose Christian name was 
Peter. A fierce controversy at the ordination of Mr. Thacher 
as pastor of the New North Church caused the division which 
led to the formation of the society of the New Brick. Dr. 
Eliot says, " that when the cock was placed upon the spindle, 
a merry fellow straddled over it and crowed three times to com- 
plete the ceremony." This church went by the name of the 
" Revenge Church," until Pr. Lathrop took charge and healed 
the breach with the parent church. 

The New Brick, a name given to distinguish it from the Old 
Brick in Cornhill, originally fronted upon Hanover Street, but 
now stands sideAvise upon that street and facing towards Rich- 
mond. It is one of the very few Boston churches occupying 



156 



LANDMARKS OF BOSTON. 



their original sites. In 1845 it Avas rebuilt of brown stone, and 
pulled down in 1871 during the widening of Hanover Street. 
The historic rooster is seen on I'aul lievere's picture of 1768. 
It is now, after having breasted the storms of a century and a 
half, safely deposited within the new church. 

. Passing tlirougli Iliclnuond to Js'^orth Street, Ave find ourselves 
in a region where even that veteran anticpiary, Jonathan Uld- 
buck, would have felt at home ; 

" Wliere winding alleys lead the doiibtfnl way ; 
The silent court and ojiening sijuare explore, 
And long perplexing lanes untrod before." 

At our left liand tlie ground rises towards the triangnilar en- 
closure known as North Scpiare. In front of us, on tlie north- 
east corner of Xortli and Rich- 
mond, is a brick building to which 
tradition has long attaclied the im- 
portance of standing on the site of 
the first Colonial Custom House, 
under Edward Eandolph and his 
successors. Evidence is wanted to 
supi>ort this statement, — an im- 
portant one in tlie investigation of 
the old landmarks ; but the tra- 
dition is firmly fixed in the minds 
of old residents of the North End, 
and is generally credited. When 
the old building was taken down, 
about twenty years ago, many a pilgrimage was made to it and 
tlie wish expressed that its walls could speak. 

Randolph Avas Collector in 1G81, but the " Bostoneers," as 
Hutchinson c-ills them, refused to recognize his ofiice. He had 
been appointed " Collector, Surveyor, and Searcher " in Ncav 
England. His authority Avas treated Avitli contempt by Gover- 
nor Leverett, Avho sat Avith his hat on Avliile the King's letter 
of appointment Avas being read liefore the Council. His public 
notification of the estal)lishnient of his office posted at the ToAvn 
House Avas torn down by an officer of the Court. In 1682, 




NFW BRICK CHURCH. 



FROM BOSTON STONE TO THE NORTH BATTERY. 157' 

fearing they had gone too for in resistance to the King's com- 
mands, the Court cstabhslied a Custom House, but the loss of 
the Colonial Charter soon followed. 

The removal of the papers belonging to this department at 
the evacuation of Boston leaves few materials wherewith to 
establish its history, and these are connected by imperfect links. 
The old building Avas long known as the "Eed Lyon Inn," 
prominent among the early North End taverns. The tablet in 
the front of the building bears the initials of the Wadsworths, 
former proprietors. The old " lied Lyon " gave its name to 
Upshall's wharf below, which became lied Lyon Wharf The 
ordinary itself was one of the oldest, and was kept by Nicholas 
Upshall probably as early as 1654, when he had a number of 
soldiers billeted upon him, and certainly in 1666. He was one 
of the first to feel the rigor of the persecution of the Quakers. 
He was banished, imprisoned, and at length in his old age died 
a martyr to the faith which, amid all his sufferings and hard- 
ships, he seems stoutly to have upheld. He was in Boston as 
early as 1637, and then owner of all the property on the north- 
east side of Eichmond Street from Hanover Street to the water. 
His first banishment was for an attempt to bribe the keeper of 
Boston jail to give food to two starving Quaker women in his 
charge. Upshall was one of the first meml^ers of the Ancient 
and Honorable Artillery Company ; his remains lie in Copp's 
Hill Cemetery, and his friends the Quakers were not forgotten 
in his will. 

As little as North Square is knoAvn to the present generation, 
few localities can surpass it in the interest which attaches to the 
historic personages who have dwelt within its confined area. 
But our readers shall judge as we proceed. 

Standing before an entrance still narrow, the relics of demol- 
ished walls on our right show that the original opening was 
once even more cramped than now, and scarce permitted the 
passage of a vehicle. The point made by North Street reached 
considerably beyond the present curbstone some distance into 
the street, both sides of which were cut off when the widening 
took place. This headland of brick and mortar, jutting out 



158 LANDMARKS OF BOSTOX. 

into old Eisli Street as a l)ulwark to protect the aristocratic 
residents of the S(|uare, was long known as " Mountfort's Cor- 
ner," from the family owning and occupying it. It was the 
established custom of those early times to lix the limits of the 
streets from corner to corner. Thus Fish Street is described in 
1 708 a.s " from iVIountjoy's corner, lower end of Cross Street, 
northerly to the sign of the Swan, by Scarlett's AVharf." 

Opposite to us, reached by a little alley from the street, was 
the residence of Dr. Snow, the historian of Boston. Where 
we stand, a narrow passage opens at our left hand, through 
which, beyond the crazy tenements, we see the brick Avails of 
the Second Church. Through this passage Governor Hutchin- 
son is said to have passed from his residence to the old church, 
a door having been constructed in the rear of that edifice ex- 
pressly for his excellency's convenience. 

Fronting the street and bounding upon this alley was the 
residence of Francis Shaw, father of Samuel Shaw, the llevo- 
lutionary soldier, and grandfather of Robert G. Shaw, the 
wealthy merchant and philanthropist. In this house were the 
quarters of the old Major of Marines Pitcairn, and Lieutenant 
Wragg of the same corps. Tr(iops were scattered in detach- 
ments throughout the North End, a cordon extending from the 
works on C'opp's Hill to the South Battery. jS^orth Square was 
the rendezvous for those nearest the l)attery, and Pitcairn 
appears to have been intrusted with the supervision of his 
quarter. 

Young Shaw, who became a major in the Continental army, 
served in the Revolution from the beginning to its close, first 
as a lieutenant in Knox's artillery, rising by successive grades 
to be a captain of artillery in 1780. He was secretary of the 
officers who formed the Society of the Cincinnati, major and 
aide-de-camp to General Knox, his old commander, at the 
peace, and was appointed by him to a post in his bureau when 
secretary -at- war. In 1794 Major Shaw received an appointment 
as consul to China from Washington, and sailed for that country 
in the first Amei'ican ship that ever set sail for those shores. 
On this voyage he died, and his ejtitaph may be seen on the 



FROM BOSTON STONE TO THE NORTH BATTERY. 159 

family monument in Copp's Hill, The company of artillery 
attached to the Boston regiment gave to the Continental ser- 
vice upwards of forty young men, most of whom became dis- 
tinguished officers of that arm. 

A tradition is preserved that Wragg, the lieutenant of ma- 
rines, one day made some remark at the family board dispar- 
aging the " rebels," whereupon he was challenged by young 
Samuel Shaw. The interposition of Pitcairn, it is said, pre- 
vented a hostile meeting. 

Proceeding up the square, wliich still preserves its cobble- 
stone pavement, we pass a tottering, ruinous wooden building 
said to have been once in the fomily of Commodore Downes, 
and come to another somewhat fresher specimen of the same 
order. This was the habitation of Paul Eevere, and his prob- 
able birthplace. From this house he gave the striking exlii- 
bition of transparencies on the evening of the anniversary of 
the ^lassacro. We have found Eevere at his shop in Cornhill, 
and briefly alluded to his engraving on copper, his first efforts 
having been on silver plate. He also engraved the plates, 
made the press, and printed the paper money for the Provincial 
Congress at Watertown. The house has not altered in appear- 
ance in fifty years. 

On the other side the square stood the old Town Pump, in 
front of the present Naval Rendezvous. One of the old town 
watch-houses was near at hand. 

Among the older fxmilies resident here were the Holyokes. 
The father of the celebrated President of Harvard was a re- 
spectable soap-boiler. 

Witliin the compass of a few rods we find buildings of 
undeniable antiquity, some extremely ruinous, with shattered 
panes and leaky roofs, while others, improved upon to suit 
more modern tenants, have the jaunty air of an old beau in 
modern habiliments. One patriarch stands at the corner of 
Sun Court and Moon Street. Its upper story projects after the 
fashion of the last century ; the timbers, which tradition says 
were cut in the neigh1)()rhood, are of prodigious thickness, 
while the clapboards are fastened with wrought nails. If the 



IGO LAKDMAKKS OF BOSTON. 

fothers of Boston had not Iwilt stron,c4y, these relics would not 
now be left to us. Tlieir chimneys were a marvel, and contain 
the materials for a good-sized modern dwelling. 

This narrow, contracted space was once the court end of the 
town. It was first called Clark's S(|uarc, from an old resident, 
and afterwards Frizell's Square. Where now is a brick block 
facing the S(|uare was built the 8econd Church in Boston, lietter 
known as the Old North. This was the church of the Mathers, 
— Samuel, Increase, Cotton, and Samuel the son of Cotton. 
Built in 1G50, it was destroyed by fire in 1676, and rebuilt the 
next year. Both houses were of wood, and the latter edifice 
was pulled down in the winter of 1775-76 for fuel, as were also 
upwards of a hundred other wooden buildings. General Howe 
s-anctioned the act. 

Dr. Lathrop says : " No records of the Old North Church 
exist for more than a year after the memorable 19tli of A})ril. 
At this time most of the churches in town were broken ujii, and 
the greatest jiart of the inhaljitants went into the country. 
While the pastor and members were dispersed, a number of 
evil-minded men of the King's party obtained leave of General 
Howe to pidl it down." The society then joined the New 
Brick, which took the name of the Second Church. 

Cotton blather, the son of Increase and grandson of John 
Cotton, is regarded as the most celebrated of the Boston clergy. 
A Bostonian by birth, he graduated with honor at Harvard, 
and was a scholar of high attainments. ]\Iather was a prolific 
author, and his numerous works are valuable contributions to 
the early history of New I^ngland. He was a firm believer in 
witchcraft, and his name is identified with the persecution of 
the nnfortunates who fell under the ban of suspicion. 

Samuel and Increase jVlather were sons of Eev. Richard 
Mather, who was settled in Dorchester in 1636. Both were 
men of learning and high consideration. Increase received the 
first degree of D. D. conferred in America. He went to Eng- 
land as agent of the colony, and returned in 1692 with the 
new charter. Unlike his son, lu; did not jiursue the witchcraft 
delusion, which desolated so many homes and left an indelible 
blot upon our history. 



FKOM BOSTON STONE TO THE NORTH BATTERY. IGl 

Cotton Mather lived on Hanover Street, in a house huih. l)y 
Captain Turell. It was not far from the Cockerel Church on 
the opposite side of the street, and was afterwards occupied by 
]\Iaster Harris of the I^orth Grammar fcSchool. Samuel jNIather 
lived on the east side of Moon Street, about midway from Sun 
Court to Fleet Street, on the corner of what was formerly known 
as Moon Street Court, The house was demolished about 1832, 
and a tobacco warehouse erected on the site, which became . 
afterwards a Catholic Church. Increase Mather lived on Xorth 
Street, near Clark, in a house afterwards used as a seamen's 
boarding-house. 

During tlie year 1G7G, when great scarcity prevailed. Dr. 
Increase INIather procured from his friends in Dublin a ship- 
load of provisions. Boston paid this debt of long standing 
with interest, when she sent by 11. B. Forbes a ship laden with 
food for the starving in Ireland. 

The following version of the humorous pen photographs of 
the Boston clergy of 1774 is from Mrs. Crocker's memoir. 
There were two distinct productions, which appear somewhat 
intermixed in the published versions. The lines given here 
were the first to ap})ear, and Avere attributed to Dr. Benjamin 
Church. They were the rage of the town : — 

"Old Mather's race will not disgrace 

Their noble pedigree, 
And Charles Old Brick* both well and sick 

Will plead for liberty. 
There 's puffing Pern, + who does condemn 

All Freedom's noble sons, 
And Andrew Slj', :J: who oft draws nigh 

To Tommy skin and bones. § 
In TBrattle Street we seldom meet 

With silver-tongued Sam,|l 
Who smoothly glides between both .sides 

And so escapes a jam. 
There 's Penuel Puff,1I is hearty enough, 

And so is Simeon Howard ; 
And Long Lane Teague ** will join the league 

And never prove a coward. 

* Chauncy. + Pemberton. + Eliot. § Hutchinson. 

II Cooper. . H Bowen. ** Moorhead. 

E 



162 LANDMARKS OF BOSTON. 

There 's little Hopper,* if you think proper, 

In Liberty's cause so bold, 
And Jolin Old North, f for little worth, 

Won't sacrifice for gold. 
Tliere 's puny John X from North Hampton, 

A meek mouth moderate man, 
And colleague stout, § who, without doubt. 

Is linked in tory clan." 

According to Mrs. Crocker, the residence of Samuel Matlier 
in Xorth Square was built by Captain Kemble, who in 1(J73 
was condemned to stand in the stocks two hours for lewd and 
unseemly conduct in saluting his wife at the step of the door, 
on the Sabliath day, when he first met her after three years' 
absence. His daughter, Mrs. Sarah Knight, kept in the same 
house a school, said to have been the first writing-school in that 
part of the tovm, from 1701 till her death in 1708. Dr. Mather 
afterwards occupied the same premises. All three of the ]\Iathers 
are interred in Copp's Hill. ]\lrs. Crocker, here referred to, was 
a granddaughter of Cotton Mather. It Avas she whom Frank- 
lin told that he was born at the Blue Ball in Union Street. 

On the corner of Garden Court and Prince Streets, formerly 
Bell Alley, was the residence of Sir Charles Henry Frank- 
land, who was Collector of Boston in 1741 under Governor 
Shirley. He was said to have been, removed from this office 
for inattention to its duties. Sir Charles led a romantic and 
eventful life. On one of his official \nsits to Marblehead he 
met with the lovely Agnes Surriage, maid-of-all-work at the inn. 
The attaclnnent he conceived for her appears to have been 
returned, though Sir Charles did not offer her marriage. 

" The old, old story, — fair and young. 
And fond, — and not too wise, — ■ * 

That matrons tell, with sharpened tongue, 
To maids with downcast eyes." 

Sir Charles had a fine estate at Hopkinton, ]\[ass., where he 
delighted to pass the time with his beautiful companion. lie- 
turning to England, Agues was made to feel the scorn of her 
nolde lover's family, and the pair went to Portugal. They 
were at Lisbon during the great earthrpiake of November 1, 
* Stillnian. f Lathrop. :J: Hunt. § Bacon. 



FROM BOSTON STONE TO THE NOUTII BATTERY. 163 

1 755, in wliieh Six Charles, while riding out, was overwhelmed 
by the falling ruins. The faithful Agnes succeeded in reaching 
and rescuing the entombed baronet, and carried him bruised 
and bleeding to their apartments. For this act of heroism the 
poor Marblehead girl became Lady Frankland. She survived 
her lord, and resided, until the breaking out of the Revolution, 
lirincipally on the estate at Hopkinton, when she returned to 
England. The following lines were addressed to Sir H. Frank- 
land on receiving the present of a box of lemons, by S. M. 
(supposed to be Samuel Mather), February 20, 1757 : — 

" You know from Eastern India came 
The skill of making punch, as did tlie name ; 
And as the name consists of letters five, 
By five ingredients it is kept alive. 
To purest water sugar must be joined, 
With these the grateful acid is combined ; 
Some any sours they get contented use, 
But men of taste do that from Tagus choose. 
When now these three are mixed with care. 
Then added be of spirit a small share ; 
And that you may the drink quite perfect see, 
Atop the musky nut must grated be." 

The Frankland estate at Hopkinton is now owned by Rev. 
!Mr. Nason, who has written a most interesting account of its 
former possessor. Sir Charles attended King's Chapel in 
Boston. The house in which the baronet resided was built by 
William Clark, for whom the square and wharf Avere named. 
He was contemporary with the elder Hutchinson, Fancuil, 
Belcher, and Hancock, who may be said to have controlled 
in their day the commerce of Boston. He was also a Council- 
lor of the Province, and a man of marked distinction in the 
affairs of the town. Clark, it is said, met with reverses in 
the French wars, losing forty sail of vessels, which so impaired 
his fortune and depressed his spirits that he died soon after. 
He was one of the original attendants at Christ Church, and 
is buried in Copp's Hill in a tomb on which is blazoned the 
family arms. 

The Clark-Frankland house was a monument of human pride. 
In all colonial Boston we have not met with its peer, and it was 



lG-1 



LANDxMAKKS OF BOSTON. 




SIR H. FRANKLAND S HOUSE. 



•without doubt built to outvie that of Hutchinson, Clark's 
"vyealthy neighbor. A brick dwelling of three stories was, in 
itself, a unique feature for the period in Avhich it was con- 
structed ; its solid brick walls were traversed by belts at each 
stage. The tiers of windows at either end of the fr(;)nt were 
narrower than the others, and opened upon closets that would 
have gladdened the eyes of modern housekeepers and put mod- 
ern architecture to the blush. The entrance door was low, a 
common fault in our old builders ; but what was unusual, the 
(litTerent flats or stories were ten feet in the clear. The dormer 
windows in the roof varied enough in form to lireak the mo- 
notony of the outline. 

Entering hj the front on Garden Court upon a hall twelve 
feet wide, you were ushered into a reception-room, or saloon, at 
the right of the hall of entrance. You Avalked on a floor cu- 
riously inlaid witli alternate sipiares of pine and cedar, much 
after the fashion in vogue at the present day. Exactly in the 



FROM BOSTON STOXE TO Tlffi :NrORTII BATTERY. 165 

middle of the floor was a centre-piece of a yard scjuare, on wliich 
the mechanic had expended his utmost skill. The pieces of 
variegated wood were beautifully interwoven around a shitdd 
bearing the family device, - — a bar with three white swans. 
This was before the day of carpets, when floors were kept 
brightly polished, even by the poorer . classes. 

The walls were wainscoted around and divided by wooden 
pilasters into compartments with panels, on each of Avhich was 
painted armorial bearings, landscapes, or ruins. Similar panels 
in the wainscot were ornamented with various devices. A 
heavy moulding of wood, supported by the gilded capitals of 
the pilasters, enclosed the ceiling. One of the panels of this 
rtjom bore an exact resemblance of the building, from a copy 
of which our engraving is taken. 

The house was similarly finished with wooden pilasters in 
every story. Some of the mantels were exquisitely carved in 
imitation of fruit and flowers. There has been preserved a 
\)icture taken from a compartment built expressly for it into the 
wall, representing two children richly attired and of a tender 
age. Conjecture has been busy as to the authorship of this 
really fine work of art. It is evidently antecedent to Copley, 
and may have been from the pencil of Smibert. Tliis relic, 
together with others, is in the possession of Rowland Ellis, Esq., 
of this city. 

After the death of the baronet, he gave the house to the 
widowed Lady Agnes, who resided in it for a time. It ulti- 
mately came into possession of the Ellis family, during whose 
occupancy the entrance was somewhat enlarged, and tlie old 
wooden fence replaced by one of iron. The native hue of the 
brick had been improved iqKJU with yellow paint. The con- 
version of old Ball Alley into an extension of Prince Street 
cut otf a considerable portion of the building, and it was taken 
down. ]\Ir. Cooper, the novelist, visited the Frankland house 
and examined it minutely before he wrote " Lionel Lincoln," in 
Avhich the house is described as the residence of ^Irs. Lechmere 
and located in Tre)no)it Street. Mr. Cooper talks about the 
" salient lions " of the tesselated floor, into which a fertile im- 



166 LANDMARKS OF BOSTOX. 

agination converted the peaceful swans of the Claries. It 
should be observed that the coat of arms in Copp's Hill bears 
a leafless branch, and is otherwise different from the escutcheon 
of the floor. 

Iledford Webster, an old Boston apothecary, and flxther of 
John White Webster, the slayer of Dr. Parkman, also lived in 
the house we have been describing. 

Next to Sir Charles Frankland, on Garden Court, resided 
Thomas Hutchinson. Under his administration, as lieutenant- 
governor and governor, were enacted the most turbident scenes 
that preceded the Revolution. By birth a Bostonian, his love 
for office led him at length into a position of antagonism with 
his countrymen. Bancroft describes him as sordid and ava- 
ricious, smuggling goods and using every means to put money 
in his purse. By his townsmen he was nicknamed " Stingy 
Tommy." He held at one time the offices of lieutenant-gover- 
nor, member of the Council, counuander of the castle, judge of 
probate, and chief justice of the Supreme Court. Dr. Franklin, 
in 1772, obtained possession in England of some of Hutchinson's 
confidential letters, which he forwarded to this country. They 
showed that Hutchinson had advocated the most repressive 
measures by the home government. 

On tlie night of the 2Gth of August, 17G5, during the Stamp 
Act troubles, the mob attacked and sacked the governor's ele- 
gant mansion, destroying his furniture, drinking his wine, and 
scattering the streets far and wide with the debris. The gover- 
nor and family escaped personal violence, but an irreparable 
injury occurred in the destruction of the valuable library and 
manuscripts, — for Hutchinson was a man of literary tastes and 
scholastic attainments. Hutchinson at first took refuge with 
his sister at the house of Dr. Samuel ]\Iather in Moon Street. 
The mob, however, demanded his person, and he was compelled 
to retreat by a back way to the house of Thomas Edes, a l)aker, 
guided by little Hannah Mather, as she herself relates. Here 
he remained during the night, returning to his brother's house 
to breakfast. The next day he was compelled to open court 
without gown or wig, both having been destroyed by the mob. 



FROM BOSTON STONE TO THE NORTH BATTEKY. 167- 

The IVIassacre increased his unpopularity, although he appeared 
on the scene and censured the unauthorized and fatal action of 
Captain Preston. The destruction of the tea in December, 
1773, was followed in a few months by the governor's depar- 
ture for England. 

The governor's mansion-house has been minutely descril)ed 
by Lydia Maria Child in the " liebels." The house was of 
brick, painted a neutral tint, and was ornamented in front with 
six Corinthian pilasters. One of the capitals of these is now 
in the Historical Library. The crown of Britain surmounted 
each window. The hall of entrance displayed a spacious arch, 
from the roof of which a dimly lighted lamp gave a rich twi- 
light view. The finely carved and gilded arch in massy mag- 
nificence M'as most tastefidly ornamented with busts and statues. 
The light streamed full on the soul-beaming countenance of 
Cicero, and playfully llickered on the brow of Tulliola. The 
panelling of the parlor was of the dark, riclily shaded mahog- 
any of St. Domingo, and ornamented with the same elaborate 
skill as the hall just quitted. The busts of George III. and 
his young queen were placed in front of a splendid mirror, with 
bronze lamps on each siile covered with beautiful transparencies, 
one representing the destruction of the Spanish Armada, the 
other giving a fine view of a fleet of line-of-battle ships draAvn 
up before the Rock of Gibraltar. On either side of the room 
were arches surmounted with the arms of England. The library 
was hung with tapestry, representing the coronation of George 
II., interspersed witli the royal arms. The portraits of Anne 
and the Georges hung in massive frames of antique splendor, 
and the cro\vded shelves were surmounted with busts of the 
house of Stuart. In the centre of the apartment stood a table 
of polished oak. The gardens of the old mansion extended 
back to Hanover and to Fleet Streets. In 1832 the building 
was taken down, and ceased to be a noted attraction of the 
Korth End. Governor Hutchinson received a pension and was 
reimbursed for his pecuniary losses, but died at last, it is said, 
of a broken heart. On Pope Day Hutchinson's effigy was often 
exhibited with two faces. 



1G8 LANDMARKS OF BOSTOX. 

The Ilutcliinson House was built about 1710 by Tliomas 
Hutchinso]!, father of tlie governor, who was born in it the 
year following. The estate was entailed to the male heirs, but 
was contiscated and solil for a mere song. Tlie ])remises after- 
wards became the j)roperty of William Little, at which time 
Mrs. Child visited them. 

General John P. Iloyd also lived in the Hutchinson house. 
He had been in the service of the native East Indian princes, 
with a force raised and equipped by himself. lieturning to the 
United States, he re-entered the army as colonel of the 4tli 
infantry, and commanded at Fort Indej^endence when the em- 
bargo of 1809 was laid, (rcneral Boyd distinguished himself 
greatly at Tippecanoe, Williamsburg, and Fort George during the 
campaigns of 1811-13. He was naval officer of Boston in 1830. 

Fleet Street, formerly Scarlett's Wharf Lane, is another of 
those names by which the Bostonians loved to testify their love 
for Old London. It is an old street, bearing this name in 1 708. 
From the lower end projected Scarlett's Wharf, now a part of 
Eastern Avenue, while from the junction of Fleet and Xorth 
the latter anciently took the name of Ship Street, to its terminus 
at Battery Wharf, from the ship-yards that lined its course. 

The "King's Head," another inn of " y'' Olden tyme," was at 
the northwest corner of Fleet and North Streets, by Scarlett's 
Wharf. It belongs to the first century of the settlement ; was 
burnt in 1691 and rebuilt. James Davenport kept it in 1755, 
and his widow in 1758. The site was long a bake-house kept 
by Joseph Austin. This neighborhood must bear oft' the palm 
for inns, being, before the construction of Long Wharf, the 
chief connnercial centre of the town. 

In North Stpiare were barracks for Britisli troops at the time 
of the battle of Lexington. Tliese troops were mustered in the 
square the night of the expedition, and sentinels, jiosted at all 
the entrances, turned the citizens from the spot. The prepara- 
tions for this affair were so secretly conducted that Gage hoped 
his intentions would escape discovery until the blow was struck. 
No changes were made in the disposition of tlie troops, except 
to detach the grenadier companies. Dr. Lathrop, the pastor of 



FROM BOSTON STOXE TO THE NORTH BATTERY. 1G9 

the Old Xorili, occupied a -wooden building erected on the site 
of his old church after its demolition, in front of which were 
some handsome elm-trees destroyed by the gale of 1815. 

The Bethel Church, which stands on the east side of N"orth 
Square, was long the scene of the labors of Father E. T. Tay- 
lor, the eloquent ]\Iethodist preacher. His parishioners were 
the sailors that found themselves in port for the time being, 
and having himself followed the sea, Father Taylor was pecu- 
liarly fitted to preach to the seafaring class. His discourses 
were filled with graphic illustrations from the language of the 
ocean, and went straight to the comprehension of his hearers. 
Frequently he would have his audience wrought up to tlie 
highest pitch of excitement by some graphic j)icture. On one 
occasion a rough, weather-beaten mariner became so interested 
in the preacher's wonderful portrayal of the impending destruc- 
tion of a gallant vessel, tliat, forgetful where he was, he ex- 
claimed, — " Let go your best bower ; nothing else wiU save 
you." Father Taylor quickly turned the interruption to good 
purpose. He was chaplain to the frigate sent with supplies to 
the famishing Irisli, and spoke in Cork and Glasgow. A 
daughter married Hon. Thomas Eussell, Collector of Boston. 
Father Taylor lived in the building at the corner of Prince 
Street, erected on the Frankland estate. 

In 167G, November 27, happened the greatest fire that had 
occurred in the town up to this time. It broke out early in 
the morning near the Eeil Lyon, and consumed forty-five dwell- 
ings, the Old K'orth ]\Ieeting-House, and several warehouses. 
The Avind blew with great violence, carrying flakes of fire across 
the river and endangering Charlestown. Hubbard, in his His- 
tory of Xew England, says the fire occurred " through the 
carelessness of a boy called up to work very early in the morn- 
ing, who falling asleep, as was said, the candle set the house on 
fire." A change of wind from southeast to south, with a co- 
pious rain, arrested the flames at last. Increase ]\Iather's dwell- 
ing was burned in this fire, which swept over the district now 
embraced within Eichmond, Hanover, and Clark Streets to the 
water side. 



170 LANDMARKS OF BOSTOX. 

Clark's "Wharf, suljsequently Hancock's, was the most noted 
in the early history of the town, but was gradually rivalled by 
Long Wharf. It now coincides with tlie north side of Lewis's 
AVharf, although it originally formed no ]>art of it. Thomas 
Hancock was the principal proprietor in 17G1, owning seven 
eighths, as appears Ijy an original statement of the income for 
that year. Tliis wliarf formerly opened into Fish, now Xortli 
Street, and John Hancock's warehouses were upon it. 

In June, 17G8, John Hancock's sloop Liberty arrived from 
Madeira loaded with wine. As she was lying at Hancock's 
Wharf, says Drake's History, Thomas Kirk the tidewaiter came 
on board, and was followed by Captain John ]\Iarshall, Avho 
connnanded Hancock's ship, the London Packet, with live or 
six others. These persons confined Kirk below until they had 
removed the wine from the sliip, of Avliich no entry was made 
at the Custom House. The next morning the master of the 
sloop entered, it is said, a few pipes of wine, and made oath it 
was all he brought. It was resolved to seize the vessel, and 
Joseph Harrison, collector, and Benjamin Hallowell, comptroller, 
repaired to the wharf and affixed " the broad arrow." Appre- 
hensive of the mob whicli had collected on tlie Avharf, the 
sloop was moored under the guns of the liomney frigate. 

Tlie exasjjerated people now turned upon the oilicers, and 
beat and maltreated them so that Mr. Harrison was for some 
time confined to his bed, while his son, Richard Acklom, Avho 
Avas not present in any official capacity, was very roughly used. 
Hallowell and Irving, inspi'ctors, fared no better. The mol) 
broke the wiinfows of INlr. Jdhii AVilliams, inspector-general, 
and also those of IMr. Hallowill's house, and finished by drag- 
ging the collector's Ijoat to the Common, where thi'y burnt every 
fVaginent of it. The revenue officers retired after this affair to 
the Castle, where they remained until the arrival of the troops 
in ()ctol)er. 

On tlie -fth of July, ominous day to ]^>ritish rule, the 38th 
rcgiincnt landed at Hancoek's Wharf, and marched to the Com- 
mon and ene.am]>ed. AVhen the Ih'itish retreated from the 
town they scuttled a new ship of 3(»0 tons then lying at this 



FROM BOSTON STONE TO TUE NOKTII BATTEIIY. 171 

■vvliarf, and left beliind about 1,000 bushels of salt and 3,000 
blankets. 

Opposite the head of Hancock's Whavl', which we remind 
our readers once extended to the present K^orth Street, was 
the North End Coffee House kept in 1783 by David Porter, who 
advertised that he had taken the Coffee House, where " gentle- 
men shall be entertained in a genteel manner." This Avas the 
father of David Porter of renown, and grandfather of the pres- 
ent Admiral David D. Porter. The elder Porter was himself 
an old ranger of the main, having commanded the private-armed 
vessels Aiu'ora and Delight in the lievolutionary AVar. At the 
peace he took the Coffee House, located at one of the most im- 
portant wharves of the town, but soon removed to Baltimore, 
where he engaged in trade. The Coffee House was occu})ied in 
1789 by liobert AVyre, distiller, and was for some time known 
as the Philadelphia Coffee House. The same house was after- 
wards the dwelling of Jonathan Amory, and later, of Colonel 
John ]\Iay. It had, however, a prior importance, having been 
built and inhabited by Edward Hutchinson, brother of Thomas. 

David Porter, the hero of the Essex, Avas born, it is said, iu 
Clmrter Street. He entered the navy as midshipman in 1798, 
and fought his Avay to a captaincy in 1812. He Avas in the 
Constellation Avdien she captured L'Insurgente ; first officer in 
that busy little craft the Enterprise liefore Tripoli ; of the frigate 
l^ew York, under Rodgers ; and of the Philadelphia, under Bain- 
bridge, when he became a prisoner for eighteen months. He 
sailed from !NeAY York in the Essex, thirty-two guns, in July, 
1812, and soon captured the British sloop Alert of tAventy guns. 
Going around to the Pacific he annihilated the British whale- 
fishery, and captured the K^octon packet Avitli <£ 1,100 sterling 
on board, Avithout finding a cruiser to molest him. Blockaded 
by the British ships Pluebe and Cherub in Valparaiso, he at- 
tempted to get to sea, but losing some of his spars by a sudden 
S(piall, Avas forced to anchor. Here he maintained a bloody and 
determined resistance until his ship Avas on fire and incapable 
of fighting, Avhen his flag Avas haided doAvn. Porter afterwards 
commanded the Mexican naAy, and filled the post of minister 
from his native country to Turkey. 



172 LANDMARKS OF BOSTON. 

Eeturiiiiig through Fleet Street to Hanover, avc find that the 
use of swinging signs, and carved iigures for the shop fronts or 
houses of entertainment is by no means as unusual as has been 
supposed. To be convinced of this, it is only necessary to walk 
over the district we are descrdnng. Jack is re])resented in 
every conceivable attitude. We are in no danger of losing our 
reckoning, for quadrant or sextant are pendent from every cor- 
ner, Avhilc a jolly tar with spyglass to his eye forever scans the 
neighboring slii})ping. Female heads, with features as weird as 
those of the famed lady of the lied liover, gaze from the en- 
trance of some ship artisan, while figures of Venus, Hebe, or 
Mary Ann start forth as if in the act of leaping from the 
painter's window to the pavement below. 

The First Universalist Church was at the corner of Xortli 
Bennet and Hanover Streets. It was a wooden building erected 
by seceders from the C)ld Xorth, with Ftev. Sanuiel Mather for 
their pastoi\ After tlie decease of j\Iather, in 1 78o, the house 
passed ])y purchase into the hands of the IJniversalists. The 
first i)astor of the society was the Fev. John ]\Iurray, the fixther 
of American Universalism, v\dio, it is said, was greeted with a 
shower of stones when he first attempted to i)reach in Feistou. 
While the building stood, it was the last of the old wooden 
churches, but after ninety-six years of service it was succeeded by 
the brick edifice built in 1838, now a Ba})tist Seamen's Bethel. 

The l)rick cliapel, on the north side of Xorth Bennet Street, 
and only a few i)aces from Hanover, was the second house of 
worship of the JNIethodists in Ijoston. They first occupitHl a 
small Avooden structure in Methodist Alley, now Hanover vV ve- 
nue. Tlie society, which has now such numerical streuLjIli in 
the land, liad, it is asserted, its beginning among the British 
soldiers who arrivetl in 17G8, a few of whom were IMethodists. 
In 1772 ]\Ir. Boardman, colleague of Fillmore, the first ]\Ietho- 
dist preacher sent to America by Wesley, formed a small society, 
whicli soon dissolved. In ( )etober, 1784, Fev. William F>lack, 
of Halifax, preached in the Santlemanian Chapel, on Hanover, 
near Cross Street, and in the Second IJaptist Churcli. The 
building in jNIethodist Alley was dedicated in May, 179G, and 



FROM BOSTOX STONE TO THE NORTH BATTERY. 173 



continued to he used by the society until Sei)temhcr, 1828, 
wlien the North Bennet Street Chapel was dedicated. 

A distressing accident occurred at the laying of the corner- 
stone of this chapel. The floor gave way under the pressure of 
the great number of people attending the ceremony, and preci])i- 
tated the living mass into the cellar beneath. JS^o lives were 
lost, but many received serious injuries. 

The famous eccentric preacher, Lorenzo Dow, occasionally 
preached in the little church in IVIethodist Alley. He was ex- 
tremely theatrical in his manner, but an efi'ective speaker. In 
this small house the preacher might almost shake hands with 
his hearers in the front seats of the gallery. 

The New North Church is one of the monuments still pre- 
served in the North End. Seventeen substantial mechanics 
formed the nucleus of this, the 
Second Congregational Society 
in this part of the town. In 
1714 they erected a small 
wooden building at the corner 
of Clark and Hanover (North) 
Streets, " unassisted by the more 
wealthy part of the community 
except by their prayers and good 
wishes." This house required 
enlargement, in 1730, to accom- 
modate its increasing congrega- 
tion ; and in 1802 was superseded 
by the present edifice. In 1805 
a bell from the foundry of Paul Revere was placed in the tower. 
John Webb was the first minister, the two ]\Iathers assisting at 
the ordination. AVithin a few years the church has been 
moved back to conform to the increased width of the street, 
and is now used by the Catholics. 

The installation of Rev. Peter Thacher, in 1719, as Mr. 
"Webb's colleague, was attempted to be prevented by the minor- 
ity opposed to him, who assembled at the house <:)f Thomas 
Lee, in Bennet Street, next the Universalist meeting-house. 




NEW NORTH CHURCH. 



17-4 LANDMARKS OF BOSTON. 

resolved to resist tlie progress of the minister and the council 
wliicli met at Mr. Webb's, on tlie corner of ^N'ortli Bonnet and 
Salem Streets. A crowd gathered and matters looked serious, 
when ]\Ir. Webb led his party out by a back way to the church, 
thus out-manceuvring the rival faction. The house of Dr. 
Eliot, of the New I^orth, is still standing. It is next but one 
to the north corner of Hanover and Tileston Streets, is of wood, 
and appears in good preservation. 

On the southwest corner of ]S^orth and Clark Streets stood, 
within a few years, an ancient brick building, reputed to be 
over two hundred years old. It was certainly built as early as 
IGoO, and proliably dated back a few years anterior. It had 
been one of the oldest inns or ordinaries in Boston, and was 
called the " Ship Tavern." It stood at the head of or opposite 
Clark's shipyard, and was kept by John Vyal in 1GG3. Vyal's 
was a favorite resort of the King's Commissioners, who were 
sent over by Charles II., after the restoration, with instruc- 
tions to visit the Xew England Colonies, and adjust all 
matters of dispute. Colonel Bichard Nichols, a soldier of 
Turenne, Colonel George Cartwright, Sir Bobert Carr, and 
Samuel ]\Iaverick, the founder of East Boston, composed the 
commissi(.>n. 

Sir Bobert Carr having assaulted a constable at the Ship 
Tavern, Governor Leverett sent a letter retpiesting Sir Bobert 
to attend at his house to answer the complaint lodged against 
him. Carr replied as follows : — 

gr Yo" I receyved last night in answer to w*" as I am S' Robert 
Carr I would have complyed w"' yo' desyres, but as I am w"" y° Kyng's 
Commission, I slial not grant yo' requests, both in respect of his 
Majestyes honor and my ouue duty, and rest yom's 

Boston Jan. 23. 1666. Robert Carr 

For Major General John Leverett, these * 

A second summons to Carr was received with a reply more 
insulting in its tenor than the iirst, and the bellicose commis- 
sioner seems to have avoided the arrest. 

As far back as Vyal's proprietorship the tavern was known 

* Hist, and Antiq. of Boston. 



FIJO.M BOSTON STONE TO THE NOimi B.VTTEKY. 175 

as tlic " Xoah's Ark," douljtloss from the faiiciL'd roseml)lanco 
of the ship on its sign to the Ark of Scripture. By this name 
it was subsequently known until its disappearance in 18GG, both 
in the proprietor's deeds and by common rej)uto. 

The old Ship Tavern, or Xoah's Ark, was probably built l)y 
Thomas Hawkins, whose shipyard was below. It became later 
the property of Thomas Hutchinson, father of the governor, and 
was given by hun to his daughter Hannah, the wife of llev. 
Samuel blather. The original building was of two stories, to 
which a third was added by a modern proprietor. The walls 
were of brick, laid in the English Bond,- with overhanging caves, 
and roof with projecting Lutheran windows. A seam in the 
old front Avail was attri])uted to the eartlKjuakc of 1GG3. It 
was altogether a remarkable specimen of the anti(pic style of 
buildings, of which not a single pure specimen is now existing 
in Boston. 

Besides the tavern, Tyal carried on a brew-house, one of the 
first of which we find any mention, at the corner of Clark and 
North Streets, where Mathews' Block now is. This brew- 
house obtained a wide reputation both in the Colonies and 
abroad, rivalling Burton's or Alsopi)'s of our day. The old 
tavern of Vyal was used as a barrack by the British troops. 
AVhile there, a contagion broke out among them wliich carried 
otf a large number. 

AVhat is now Harris Street, next north of Clark, Avas once 
knoAvn as "White-Bread Alley, and is so laid down on the nia})s. 
It Avas so named from the circumstance that the first penny rolls 
ever ofl"ered for sale in Boston Avere baked there by ]\Iadam 
Tudor. She Avas an Englishwoman, and began by sending her 
little son, afterwards Deacon John Tudor, around among the 
neighbors Avith her bread. She died at ninety, and the busi- 
ness Avas continued by her son. 

We next come to Salutation Street, raised in modern times 
from the meaner appellation of " alley " Avithout any particular 
pretension to the dignity. Its singular name comes from tho 
old Salutation Tavern, in foruK-r times at the corner of the 
alley and Xorth Street. A grotesque sign, descriptive of tho 



176 LAXDJIARKS OF BOSTON. 

ineeting of two gentlemen of the era of small clothes, cocked 
hats, etc., in the act of greeting each other, gave the hostelry 
its name. Samuel Green kept there in 1731, ;ind William 
Campliell in 1773. 

The Salutation, also called the Two Palaverers, while kept 
hy Campbell, was the rendezvous of the famous Kortli End 
Caucus. In the " Hundred Boston Orators " it is stated that this 
Itcvolutionary association originated with Warren, and that the 
resolutions for the destruction of the tea were there dra-\vn up. 
It consisted at lirst of sixty-one members. Dr. John Young 
was the first president. • AVhen the best means of ritlding Ijos- 
ton of the regulars Avas under discussion, Hancock, who was a 
meml)er, exclaimed, " Durn I>oston and make John Hancock a 
beggar, if the public good reipxires it." 

The word " caucus " is said to occur lirst in Gordon's " History 
of the American Eevolution," Vol. I. ]). 240, published in 1788. 
He says that more than fifty years previous to his lime of writ- 
ing, " Samuel Adams and twenty others in liciston, one or two 
from the North End of the town, Avhere all the ship business is 
carried on, used to meet, make a caucus, etc." Erom the fact 
that the meetings were ludd in a ])art of Hoston Avherc all the 
sliip business was carried on, ]\[r. Pickering, in his Vocabulary 
(Boston, 181 G), infers that "caucus" may be a corrui)tion of 
" calkers," the word " meeting " being understood. This deriva- 
tion has been adopted by others. 

A few steps bring us to Ilattery Street, likewise an alley in 
1708, receiving its name from the North Battery below, to 
which it conducted. It formerly run from Charter Street to 
the Battery, Init now to Hanover Street only. 

The first mention of Avliat was afterwards called the North 
Battery occurs in the records in Jaimary, 1644, Avhen a Avork 
at Merry's Point was agreed upon. There Avas, hoAVCA^r, no 
definite action taken until 1640, Avlien there appear propositions 
al)out a fortification at the North End, " att AValter Merry's 
point." Johnson's " Wonder- Working ProA'idenee" speaks of the 
forts on Copp's and Eort Hill as " the one Avell fortified on the 
superficies thereof Avith store of great artillery Avell mounted. 



TROM BOSTOX STONE TO THE NORTH ];ATTERV. 177 

The otlier liath a very stron<^ battery huilt of whole timhor and 
lillecl with earth," the latter behig tlie North Battery. In 170G 
a project was brought before the town to extend the North 
Battery one hundred and twenty feet, with a ])readth of forty 
feet, and £ 1,000 were voted for the improvement and security 
of the work. John Steele had command in 1750. 

The town sold the North Battery to Jeffrey and Bussell. It 
became Jeffrey's AYharf between 1789 and 1790, and is now 
Battery Wharf, in memory of its ancient purposes. 

The 52(1, 43d, and 47th British regiments, with companies 
of grenadiers and light infantry, embarked from the North 
Battery on the day of Bunker Hill, as did also tlie 1st Battalion, 
of Marines, led by Major Pitcairn, of Lexington fame, who 
fell a victim to the murderous fire from the fatal redoubt while 
gallantly urging on his men to the attack. 

AVhen Lord Howe evacuated Boston the North Battery was 
armed with seven twelve-pounders, two nine-pounders, and four 
six-pounders, — all rendered unserviceable. From its position 
the work commanded the entrance to Charles IJiver as well as 
the Town Cove ; and was deemed of the highest mditary im- 
portance in those days of short-range artillery. 

While in the neighborhood of the prominent wharves, we 
may appropriately refer to the long trucks once used in Boston 
ior conveying heavy merchandise. As long ago as 1720 trucks 
were used, when we find, by an order regulating them, none 
were to be " more than eighteen feet long ; to employ but two 
horses in one team ; to carry no more than one ton at a load ; 
and wheel tires to be four inches wide ; the driver to go at the 
head of the thill horse, Avhich he must govern by a halter to be 
kept in the hand." These ponderous veliicles finally disap- 
jieared, and with them that distinctive body of men, the " Bos- 
ton Truckmen," who once formed a leading and attractive feature 
of our public processions, with their Avhite frocks and black 
hats, mounted on their magnihceut truck-horses. Hardy and 
athletic, it would have been hard to find their equals on either 
side of the water. Tlie long jiggers now used are scarcely less 
objectionable than the old trucks. 



178 



LANDMARKS OF BOSTON. 



CHAPTER VI, 



A VISIT TO THE OLD SHIPYARDS. 



Eai'ly Sliip-Building. — Boston Sliipyards. — Massachusetts Frigate. — New 
England Naval Flag. — First Seventy-Four. — Hartt's Naval Yard. — The 
Constitution. — Her Launch, History, and Exploits. — Anecdotes of Hull, 
Baiid)ridge, and Decatur. — Old Ironsides Rebuilt. — Josiah Barker. — ■ 
Nicholson. — Prehle. — Stewart. — Other Distinguished Officers. — Escape 
from the British Fleet. — Anecdote of Dr. Bentley. — Action with the 
Gnerriere. — The Java. — Cyane and Levant. — Relics of Old Ironsides. — 
Afi'air of the Figure-Uead. — Captain Dewey. — The Frigate Boston. — 
Cai)ture of Le Berceau. — The Argus. 

WE have now broui^lit tlie reader among the shipyards, 
which were in hygonc days a principal feature of the 
!North End. The first ship built in the vicinity of Boston was 
the " Blessing of the Bay," at what is now Medford. It was a 
bark of thirty tons ordered by Governor Wintlirop, and was 
launched on the 4th of July, 1G31, 
In 1G32 - 33 a " shippe of a hundred 
tunnes " was launched in the same 
town, so that the IMedford ship- 
wrights seem to bear off the palm in 
establishing this industry in our 
neighborhood. The hrst mention of 
sliip-building in Boston occurs in 
1G40, and a hundred years later 
there were on the stocks at the .same 
time forty topsail vessels with seven thousand tons' capacity. 

As early as 1G45 Captain Thomas Hawkins built the Seafort, 
a fine sliip of four hundred tons, at his 3'ard at the foot of 
Clark Street ; shi; was lost on the coast of Spain. John Iiicl'- 
ards succeeded to the yard on the north of the Ship Tavern in 
1G88. Clark's yard was tlie same in 1722. In 1708 Joshua 




ANCIENT SHIP. 



A VISIT TO THE OLD SIIIPYAIID.S. 



179 



Geo ]i;ul a shipyard at tlie foot of Copp's Hill, and foui'tecii 
years later there were no less than six yards lyinij around tli(i 
base of the hill, two below Fort Hill, and another beyond the 
causeway at West Boston. In 1745 was built the Massachu- 
setts Frigate, which, under command of Captain Edward Tyng, 
accompanied Sir William Pepperell's expedition against Louis- 
biu'g, where she rendered efficient service, capturing the Vigi- 
lant, French man-of-war of sixty-four guns, — more than double 
her own force. According to Captain (l. II. Preble's " Xotes on 
Early Ship-Building," " when it was designed to reduce Louis- 
burg, Governor Shirley directed Captain Tyng to procure the 
largest ship in his power. He accordingly purchased one on the 
stocks nearly ready for launching, and made such improvements 
upon her that she was able to carry twenty-four to twenty-six 
guns." On her return to Boston this frigate brought Governor 
Shirley and lady, who had been to the theatre of war. They 
met with a splendid ovation at the hands of the Bostonians, as 
we have related elsewhere. 

We may ap})ropriately mention here the colors which were 
used on the sea l)y the colony before 1700, a 
representation of which is given herewith. 
The field and cross were red, the tree green, 
and the union white. The tree appears as a 
distinctive emblem on the coins as well as the 
flag. 

Pemberton, in his description of Boston, 
"written in 1794, says : — 

"Ship-building Avas formerly carried on at U])wards of twenty- 
seven dock-yards in the town at one and tlie same time, and eiu- 
phiyed a large number of mechanicks. In one of the yards, twelve 
ships have l)een launched in twelve months. In all the dock-yards, 
I am crediljly informed there have l^cen upwards of sixty vessels 
on the stocks at one time. Many of the ships built here were sent 
directly to London with naval stores, whale oil, etc., and to the West 
Indies with fish and lundjer. The whale and cod fishery employed 
many of our smaller cralt. They wei'e nurseries, and produced many 
hardy seamen. Al)oiit the year 1750, when paper money was sup- 
pressed in this then colony, the sale of ships lying m England, on 




NEW ENGLAND FLAG. 



180 



LANDMARKS OF BOSTON. 



accoimt of the OA\iiers liere, occasioned a loss to them from twenty 
to forty per cent. Few ships were l)iiilt here, and ship-l)uil(ling grad- 
nally declined. Vessels are now built in the country towns not far 
from where the timber grows. 

"The harbor of Boston is at this date" (Noveml>er, 1794), con- 
tinues Pemberton, "crowded with vessels. Eighty-four sail have 
been counted lying at two of the wharves only. It is reckoned that 
:iot less than four hundred and tifty sail of ships, bi'igs, schooners, 
and sloops, and small crafts are now in port." 

Tlie lirst war-slii[) built in Boston Avas a seventy-four, laid 
down at the yard of IJenjamin (loodwui, — afterwards Tilley's 
Wharf, — a short distance from Cliarlestown Bridge. She was 
ordered l^y the Continental Congress, and Thomas Gushing, 
afterwards lieutenant-governor, then agent of the government, 
took possession of the dwelling-house, stores, wharf, and yard 
of Coodwiu for this purpose. In 1784, the exigency liaving 
passed by, the ship was sold on the stocks by Thomas liussell 
as ageiit of the Uiiited States. This Avas probably the lirst 
seventy-lour begun in the United States. 

It is stated in Emmons's excellent " History of the I^avy " that 

the America, built at Portsmouth 
in 1782, tire command of Avhicli 
Avas destined for tlio renoAvned 
I'aul Jones, Avas the first A^essel 
of til is class built for our navy. 
She appears to liaA'e been the first 
afloat. The America, UAvarded 
by a unanimous vote of Con- 
gress to tlie con(|ueror of the 
Serai)is, Avas given to the French, 
to supply the loss of the IMag- 
nitiipie, lost in Boston harbor in 
the above year. Her fixte is a 
matter of uncertainty. 
Edmund Ilartt's shipyard Avill l)e forever famous in our an- 
nals as the place Avhere the I'ride of the American l^avj Avas 
built. The Hartts Avere a family t)f shipAvrights. Besides 
Edmund, there Avere EdAvard, Zei)haniah, and IJalpli the mast- 




SHII> OF THE TIME OF THE riLCiUIJI.S. 



A VISIT TO THE OLD SIIII'YAKDS. 181 

maker, Edmimd lived opposite his yard, iu what was then Ship 
Street. Ho was one of the original trustees of the ^Mechanic 
Charitable Association, 

Before the establishment of government dockyards, private 
yards were used for building national vessels, and Hartt's went 
for a long time by the name of " Hartt's Naval Yard," Thorn- 
ton's yard on the map of 1722 corresponds with Hartt's, which 
is now known as Constitution Wharf, 

Tlie frigates Constitution and Boston and brig Argiis Avere 

all built here. All three are known to fame ; but the glorious 

career of Old Ironsides is indelibly associated witli the downfall 

of England's naval supremacy. The jjroud boast of Waller — 

" Others may use the ocean as their road. 
Only the English make it their aboile " — • 

■was rendered obsolete by the deeds of a navy unborn when ho 
Avrote. 

In consequence of the depredations of the Algerine corsairs 
upon our commerce, an act was passed at the lirst session of 
the Third Congress to proWde, by purchase or otherwise, four 
ships to carry forty-four guns and two to carry thirty-six. This 
act was approved by President Washington, INIarch 27, 1794. 
The keel of the Constitution was accordmgiy laid by ]\Ir, Hartt 
in !N^ovember of that year, and preparations made for setting 
her up. Mr. Cooper, in his Naval History, says her keel was 
laid on Charlestown Neck, — a situation somewhat remote from 
her actual birthplace, — and has also incorrectly stated the 
date of her launch, an error into which many historians have 
been led by the two unsuccessfid attempts made before she 
finally passed to her destined element. 

Peace being concluded with the Dey of Algiers, work was 
ordered stopped on three of the new frigates, and the mate- 
rials sold. The act of July 1, 1797, approved by President 
Jolm Adams, makes tlie first official mention of the Constitu- 
tion, The President was authorized to cause the frigates 
United States, Constitution, and Constellation to be manned 
and employed. 

The names of all who contributed by their labor to the 



182 



LANDMARKS OF BOSTON. 



building of Gill Innisides deserve to be perpetuated, but the 
reeords of the Xavy Department liaving been destroyed wlien 
AVa.shiugton was capturetl in LSI 4, the loss of the meehauics' 
rolls has been supplietl only after diligent search. She was 
designetl by Joshua Humphries of Philadelphia, and constructed 
under the superintendence of Colonel Cleorge Claghorn of New 
Ik'dford. Captains iJarry, Dale, and Truxton of the navy agreed 
with Mr. Humphries upon the dimensions of the Constitution, 
and ]\rr. Humphries prepared the drafts, moulds, and building 
instructions. Her masts and spars were ]nade in the yard be- 
tween Comey's \Yharf and the shipyard ; Paul Pevere furnished 
tlie copper bolts and spikes, drawn from malleable copper by a 
j^rocess then new ; and Ephraiui Thayer, who had a shop at the 
►South End, made the gun-carriages for the frigate. He after- 
Avards ]nade those used on the gunboats built under Jellerson's 
administration. Isaac Harris, who worked as an apprentice in 
the mast-yard in 171)7, put new sticks into the frigate during 
the war of 1812. To him is said to belong the honor of lirsfc 
applying in this country the important improvement of making 
ships' masts in sections. He constructed the first shears used 
at the Kavy Yard at Charlestown for placing 
the heavy masts of war-vessels in position. 
A l;)rave act is recorded of him in connection 
with the Old South, and we shall presently 
allude to him in connection with a very cele- 
brated fiag-raising. The anchors of the C'on- 
stitution were made in Hanover, Plymouth 
County, jNIass. 

J\lr. Hartly of Boston, father of a subse- 
fpient naval constructor, assisted Colonel Clag- 
coNSTiTUTioN's FIG- \^^^y^^ . .^,j,| ( 'ai)tain Nicholson, who was ap- 
THE WAK OF isu. pointed her first commander, exercised a 
general supervision, in which he was aided liy General Jackson 
and ]\lajor (;il)l)s of Poston. Under the orders of Colonel 
Claghorn, Ednumd Hartt was the master car])enter. The frig- 
ate's sails were made in the (Jld Cranary, at the corner of Park 
and Tremont Streets, where now stands Park Street Church. 




A VISIT TO THE OLD SIIIPYAKDS. 183 

No other building in Boston was largo en;. ugh. The ^Messrs. 
Skilliiigs of Boston were the carvers of the tigure-head and stern 
ornaments and of the caltin. She first carried at her prow a lig- 
ure of Hercules with uplifted club. This was shot away before 
Tri[)oli, and seems to have been exchanged at the beginning of 
1812 for a Neptune, which is alluded to in the old song, — 
" By the Trident of Neiitune, brave Hull cried, let 's steer, 
It points to the track of the Imllyiiig Guerriere." 

She subsequently bore a ])lain billtitdiead scroll, now preserved 
at Charlestown Xavy Yard by the thoughtful care of some un- 
known commander at that station. Finally, the bows of the 
gallant old craft were decorated with a bust of General Jackson. 
The Constitution fu'st carried an English battery ; her frame 
was live-oak. 

" Day by day the vessel grew. 

With timbers fasliioned strong and true, 

Stejnson and keelson and sternson knee. 

Till, framed with perfect symmetry, 

A skeleton ship rose up to view." 

At length came the 20tli September, 1797, the day on which 
Colonel Claghorn had announced that he would launch the 
Constitution. People jioured into the town from all quarters. 
The day Avas pleasant, but cold, and the neighboring wharves 
were crowded with spectators, who received warning that the 
passage of the vessel into the water woidd create a swell that 
might endanger their safety. About six liundred people went 
over to Noddle's Island, where they could obtain a fine view of 
the expected launch. At high water, twenty minutes past 
eleven, the signal was given, but the ship only moved aljout 
eight feet. Her colors were then lowered, and the assembled 
multitude dispersed with disappointment and anxious forebod- 
ings. 

Owing to an accident to the United States, launched at Phil- 
adelphia, by which she ran off the ways an hour before it was 
intended, damaging her keel and injuring several people, the 
ways of the Constitution were laitl too level, to jjrevent a simi- 
lar accident. Part of the site of Hartt's yard Avas natural, and 
part artificial ; the latter sank under the immense Aveight. The 



184 LANDMARKS OF BOSTON. 

vessel mi_nlit have been forced oft', but the constructor decided 
not to attempt a measure so hazardous. 

On Friday, the 22d, a second eflbrt was made to get the 
frigate aftoat. She moved a Httle and then stjick flxst. Grave 
doul)ts Avere now expressed as to the practicabihty of moving 
lier, and tlie " ill-fated ship," as the superstitious now regarded 
her, remained seemingly fixed in her position. 

(Saturday, Oct(ibcr 21, a tliird attempt was made, the high 
tides having aflbnled an op^jortunity of completing the ways. 
The day Avas lowering and cold, Avith an easterly Avind. ' l>ut 
few people assembled, the general belief being that this Avould, 
like the other attempts, prove abortive. A few dignitaries, 
specially invited, gathered Avithiu the narroAV limits of the yard. 
At half past twelve p. ji. all Avas ready. 

"AikI at the mast-head, 
White, blue, and red, 
A flag unrolls the stiijies and stars." 

Commodore James Sever stood on the heel of the boAVsprit, 
and, according to the usage of the time, baptized tlie shi}) Avith 
a bottle of choice old Madeira from the cellar of lion. Thomas 
Itussell, a leading Boston merchant. A few invited guests, 
among Avhom Averc some ladies, stood on the A^essei's deck. At 
last, at the given signal, — 

" She starts, — slie moves, — she seems to feel 
The thrill of life along her keel ; 
And, spurning with her foot the ground, 
With one exulting, joyous bound, 
She leajis into the ocean's .arms ! " 

We haA^e extracted the following incident of the launch from 
the manuscript of Captain Preble's " History of the Flag " : — 

" We are glad to be able to record the name of the person Avho 
first hoisted our flag over her, little imagining the glorious history 
sLl- would make. When tlie Constitution Avas about ready to launch, 
Commodore Nicholson, who had charge and superintendence of lier 
construction, left the sliipyard to get his l)]'eaktast, leaving express 
oi-ders not to hoist any flag over her until liis return, intending to 
reserve the honor to himself Among the Avorkinen ujion her Avas a 
shipwright and calker named Samuel Benlk-y, who, with the assist- 



A VISIT TO THE OLD SIIirYAIiDS, 185 

ance of another ^vorkman named Harris, lient on and hoisted the 
stars and stripes during tlie commodore's absence. When the com- 
modore retm-ned and saw our flag, conti'ary to liis oi-ders, floating 
over her, he was very wrathy, and expressed himself in Avoi-ds more 
strong than polite to the ofl'ending workmen. Could he have fore- 
seen the future of the noble frigate he would have been still luore 
excited. He had, however, the satisfaction of being the fii'st to com- 
mand her, and we know she was the first of the new frigates to carry 
the fifteen stars and stiipes nnder canvas npon the deep blue sea. 
Bentley died in Boston in 1852. The fifteen stars and stripes were 
worn by her before Trijioli and throughout the war of 1812." 

In Emmons's Xaval List the Constitution is described as a 
ship of 44 guns, 400 men, 1,576 tons, and cost, ready for sea, 
$302,719. She Las been several times rebuilt, but the orig- 
inal model, tonnage, and general appearance were preserved. 
In 1834 the frigate Avas taken into the new Dry Dock at 
Charlestown in the presence of the Vice-President Mr. Van 
Euren, Lewis Cass, Secretary of War, the Secretary of the 
Navy Mr. Woodbury, and other distinguislied personages. The 
President, General Jackson, was to have been present, but was 
prevented by illness. Commodore Hull had cliarge of her on 
this interesting occasion, and liis clear voice was freq^uently 
heard ringing from the quarter-deck of his former glory. 
Loammi Ealdwin, engineer of the Dry Dock, also assisted at 
tlie ceremony. The frigate was entirely dismantled and dis- 
masted, with all her gingerbread-work stripped off jDrepai^atory 
to a thorough overhauling. Her hull presented a most venera- 
ble appearance, the bottom being covered with mussels, many 
of Avhich were gathered as relics. 

Here she was rebuilt by Josiah Parker, the eminent naval 
constructor of the A^ermont and Virginia ships-of-the-line, the 
frigate Cumberland, sloops-of-war IVlarion, Cj'ane, Bainbridge, 
and many others. Mr. Parker's first shipyard occupied tho 
site of the present ISTavy Yard. There is now in this yard a 
mast-maker, named Harding, who has more than once masted 
and sparred tnis good ship. 

The Constitution first moved un(h>r canvas Jidy 20, 1798, 
proceeding to sea August 1 3. The roil of her commanders em- 



loG LANDMARKS OF BOSTON. 

In-acf'S in their order Samuel Xichcilson, avIio liad l)een a lieu- 
tenant Avitli Paul Jones in liis action witli the Serapi.s ; Eilward 
PnOtle, styled "the fatlier of our navy," ^v\\o had served iji the 
old I'rotector and Winthrop, and who in 1804 gallantly laid 
Old Ironsides under the walls of Tripoli ; Isaac Hull, fourth 
lieutenant of the old bark in lier tirst cruise, executive otheer in 
1800, and finally in 1812, as commander, the victor in the 
famous action with the Guerriere ; William Bainhridge, a tried 
officer of the old navy, captured in the Philadelphia at Trii)oli 
in 1803, and suhse(piently conqueror in iJecember, 1812, of the 
Java, British frigate ; Charles Stewart, who closed tlie Avar so 
gloriously for his flag l>y the capture of two British frigates, the 
Cyane and Levant. Tliis action was fought on a beautiful 
moonlight evening off Madeira after peace was concluded, but 
by the terms of the treaty the capture was legalized. 

Besides these names, so illustrious in the pages of naval Avar- 
fare, the Constitution Avas connnanded a short time in 1804 by 
the brave l)ut ill-fated Decatur ; by John liodgers ; by Jacob 
Jones ; by T. Macdonough, J. D. Elliott, and others, Avhose 
deeds liave passed into history. The brave LaAvrence, gallant 
DaAdd Porter, Charles LuiUoav, and Charles Morris have ser\'ed 
iu her as first-lieutenants, Avhile Isaac Chauncey Avas a master 
commandant, and Shubrick a lieutenant. The latter officer, 
noAV rear-admiral and blind, is the only survivor among the 
officers of the battle Avith the Cyane and Levant, in Avhich he 
Avas engaged. 

The first crcAV of the Constitution Avere, Avith fcAv exceptions, 
natives of Massachusetts. Her career and exploits are as fa- 
miliar as household Avords. No ship Avas ever so loved by a 
nation, not even the famous old Victory of Nelson. Good luck 
pursued her AA'ithout the intervention of the horse-shoe Avhich 
Nelson carried nailed to his mast-head. 

'•'Aye, put her atop on the log-liook of fame, 

Her voice always roared Iroin tlie van, 
When she bore down in thunder and (harkncss and flame, 

Crash foundering each foe that before her came, 
Tlie old sailors' love flashes up at her name, 

For lier yards Young Americans man," 



A VISIT TO THE OLD SIIII'YAUDS. 187 

The first cruise of Okl Ironsides umlcr Nicholson and the 
second under Talbot arc void of any intcrt'sting iL-atures, and 
it was not until Preble commanded her in tlie ^rediterrancan, 
in 1803, that she fired a broadside at an enemy. 

Cooper says that Preble was appointed to the ConstiiutiDii as 
first lieutenant under Commodore Nicholson, but got relieved, 
his relations with his commander not being cordial. Preble 
hoi.sted his Hag on board the Constitution, May 21, 1803. The 
ship, having been lying in ordinary for ten months, was unfit for 
immediate service, and the commodore caused a thoroiigh over- 
haiding of tlie vessel to be made, personally scrutinizing every 
roj)e and timber in her. Under his orders she achieved her 
early reputation, and was, when he turned her over to Decatur, 
a ship to be proud of. After lying some time in President's 
Roads talcing in powder, etc., the Constitution weighed anchor 
and sailed on her famous cruise to the Mediterranean, Sumlay, 
August U, 1803. 

Her escape from the British scpiadron in July, 1812, Avas due 
to Yankee ingenuity. The metliod by which this was accom- 
plished is, it is believed, understood by few. The Constitution 
earned two umbrellas, so called, made of stout spars attached to 
a central one precisely like an umbrella frame. These were 
covered with canvas, and were capable of being expanded or 
closed ; the weight of the iron-work caused them to sink. 
"While the becalmed Pritish A'essels were towing with their 
boats, Htdl caused his umbrellas to be carried out ahead and 
wari)ed his vessel up to them, so contriving, that while one 
was being hauled in the other was being put in ])osition. In 
this way, he left his pursuers astern before they discovered the 
means employed to escape them. These umbrellas arc now in 
the CharlestoMTi Navy Yard, where, it is hoped, they may he 
jireserved with care. The Constitution ran into JNIarblehead on 
Sunday. 

AVhile Dr. Pentley, pastor of the Second Church at Salem, 
was in the midst of his sermon, some one called out under the 
window of the church, " The Pritish fieet is chasing the Con- 
stitution into Marblehead." The minister instantly dismissed 



188 LAXDMAKKS OF BOSTON. 

his congregation, seized his hat, and ran out of the cluirch, fol- 
h)wing the men and cannon towards tlic scene of action. Ik'ing 
a short, tliick-set man, and the mercury at eighty-five, the good 
doctor soon gave out, Avhen lie was hfted astride one of tlie 
cannon, and in tliis way proceeiknl to the l)each. Dr. Bentk'y 
was a Boston hoy, graduate and tutor at Harvard, and for a 
long time an editor of the Salem Gazette and Salem Eegister. 

The following anecdotes of Hull are printed in j\liss (^uincy's 
Memoir : — 

"Toward evening on the 29th of August, 1812, a frigate (recog- 
nized as the Constitution) canic; in i;nder full sail and dropped her 
anchor heside Ruinsford Island, — then the quarantine ground. The 
next morning a tieet of anned ships appeared off Point Alderton. 
As thfj rapidly a}>proa(hed, tlie Constitution was ol)served to raise 
her anchor and sails and go Ijoldly forth to meet the apparent 
enemy ; but as the frigate passed the leader of the fleet, a friendly 
recognition was exchanged instead of the expected broadside. They 
joined company, and the Constitution led the way to Boston. It 
was the squadron of Conunodore Rodgers returning unexpectedly 
from a long cruise. 

"A few days afterwards, Hull, who had just taken the Guerriere, 
came with Decatur to Ijreakfast at Quincy. AVhen this incident was 
mentioned, Hi;ll said, ' I must acknowledge I participated in the 
apprehensions of my friends on shore. Thinking myself safe in 
port, I told my officers to let the men wash their clothes, and get the 
ship in order to go up to Boston ; and being excessively fatigued, 
went to my stateroom. I was sound asleep when a lieutenant rushed 
down, exclainung, ' Captain, the British are upon us ! — an armed 
fleet is entering the harlior ! ' No agreeal)le intelligence, certainly ; 
for I was wholly unprepared to engage with a superior force. Eat 
determined to sell our lives as dear as I could, I ,L;ave orders to clear 
the decks, weigh anchor, and get ready for immediate action. I con- 
fess I was greatly relieved when I saw the American flag and recog- 
nized Rodgers.' In speaking of the conflict Avith the Guerriere, he 
said, ' I do not mind the day of battle ; the excitement carries one 
through : but the day after is iVarful ; it is so dreadful to see my 
men wounded and suflVring.' 

" These naval olficers formed a striking contrast. Hull was easy 
and pre]iossessiiig in his manners, Init looked accustomed to face 
' the battle and the breeze.' Decatm- Avas unconmionly handsome, 



A VISIT TO THE OLD SHIPYARDS. 180 

and remarkable for the delicacy and refinement of his appear- 
ance."' 

Hull, "wlio liad a good deal of tlio 1)lulf sailor about him, 
exclaimed when he saw the mast ut" the Guerriere go by the 
board, — " Huzzah, my boys, wc 've made a brig of her." A 
sliipmaster, prisoner on board the Guerriere, gives an interest- 
ing relation of his experience during the action. Wliilo the 
Constitution was manoeuvring for position, Captain Dacres asked 
liis prisoner, " Do you think she will strike without firing ] " 

Obtaining permission to retii-e into the cockpit, the captain 
says : — 

"Within one moment after my foot left the ladder the Constitu- 
tion gave that double-shotted broadside which threw all in the cock- 
pit over in a heap on the ojiposite side of the ship. For a moment 
it seemed as if heaven and earth had struck together ; a more terrific 
shock cannot be imagined." 

After the firing had ceased, the prisoner returned to the deck, 
and continues : — - 

" What a scene was presented, and how changed in so short a time, 
during which the Guerriere had been totally dismasted and otherwise 
cut to pieces, so as not to make her worth towmg into port. On the 
other hand, the Constitution looked perfectly fresh, and even those 
on board the Guerriere did not know what ship had foUght them. 
Captain Dacres stood with his officers surveying the scene, — all in 
the most perfect astonishment." 

" At this moment a boat was seen putting off from the hostile ship. 
As soon as withm speaking distance, a young gentleman (Midship- 
man, late Commodore Reed) hailed and said, ' Commodore Hull's 
compliments, and wishes to know if you have struck your flag?' 
At this Captain Dacres appeared amaze<l, but recovering himself and 
looking up and dowi, he delilierately said, — ' Well, I don't know ; 
— our mainmast is gone, our mizzenmast is gone, and upon the whole 
you may say we have struck our flag.' " ■ 

The little hurt received by the Constitution in this engage- 
ment — her hull sliowing only liere and there a scar — gave her 
the name of Old Ironsides, by which she Avas familiarly known. 
Her crew, indeed, affirmed that the Guerriere's shot fell hann- 
less from her " iron sides." 



100 J^ANDMARKS OF BOSTON. 

Old Ironsides arrived in ]5oston on a Sunday, about noon, 
from this cruise. Tlie ship was soon surrounded hy l)oats 
eager to learn the news, whieli was communicated to the lirst 
that came alongside. Instantly the word was passed to the 
other boats, "The Constitution has captured the ( luerriere ! " 
The men cheered, swung their hats, and spread the joyful 
tidings to the shore, where thousands gathered on the wharves 
took U[) the refrain until it echoed from one extremity of the ' 
town to the other. 

" On Brazil's coast shs ruled the roast 
Wlien Baiiiljridge was htr captain ; 
Neat liamniocks gave, made of the wave, 
Dead Britons to be wrapped in." 

Piainbridge, who succeeded Hull in the command of the Con- 
stitution, next fought a well-contested action with the Java on 
the coast of Brazil, I)8cember 29, Ijringing his own ship victo- 
riously out of the tight. The Java, indeed, only struck her 
Hag after the loss of every mast and spar, bows})rit included. 
Her gallant commander, Lambert, was mortally wounded. The 
disabled condition of his prize, with the great distance from our 
own shores, compelled Dainljridge to destroy the Java, as lIuU 
had destroyed the Guerriere. When the officers of the Java 
left the Constitution at St. Salvador, they expressed the warm- 
est gratitude for the humane and generous treatment they had 
ex])erienced. 

]>ainl>ridge returned to Boston from this cruise, arriving on 
the l.^tli of February. He was received on landing by a salute 
of artillery, and a jirocession was formed at Faneuil Hall headed 
by the " Boston Light Infantry " and " Winslow Blues," which 
escorted the commodore to the Exchange Coffee House, where 
tlie company sat down to a superl) baiKpiet. Hull and Bodgers 
walki'd with Bainl)ridge in tlie procession, and shared the ap- 
])lause bestowed upiui him. At the dinner Governor Gore pre- 
sided, assisted by H. G. Gtis, Israel Tliorndike, T. L. Wintlirop, 
"VVilHam Sullivan, and others. The Legislature being in session 
])a.ss('d complimentary resolutions. 

The coiumodore, with some of his officers, visited the Federal 



A VISIT TO THE OLD SHIPYARDS. 191 

Street Theatre, where they were immediately recognized hy the 
audience, which rose up as if hy one impulse, while cheer upon 
cheer shook the house from pit to dome. 'Jlio veteran Cooper, 
who on that night was ])laying Macbeth, Hung his Lonnet in 
the air and joined in the applause. 

In June, 1813, Stewart was appointed to command her, and 
proceeded to sea December 30, although Boston was then block- 
aded by seven of the enemy's ships. She returned in April, 
1814, and was chased into IMarblehead by the frigates Tene- 
dos and Junon. The country was alarmed, and the local 
militia from Xewburyport to Boston marched to defend the 
frigate ; one Boston company, the Xew England Guards, pro- 
ceeded as far as Charlestown, when they learned that the pursuit 
had ])een abandoned. They then found that their cartridge- 
boxes were empty. 

In December, 1814, Stewart sailed on his second cruise and 
encountered, Feljruary 28, olf INIadeira, the British frigates 
Cyane and Levant, which were l)oth captured after a contest 
in which the Constitution was handl('(l with cfinsummate skill 
by her commander. Of the prizes, only the Cyane succeeded 
in reaching the United States, the Levant b(;ing recaptured by 
Sir George Collier's squadron, which suddenly appeared off Port 
Praya, where Old Ironsides was quietly lying with her captives. 
All tlu'ee vessels Avere compelled to cut their cables and run for 
it. The Cyane arriAdng first at Xew York, great anxiety Avas 
felt for the Constitution, and on her arrival at that port on the 
15th of May, 1815, the shi^) and commander were greeted with 
the utmost enthusiasm. 

On the 4th of July, 1828, Old Ironsides returned from a long 
cruise in the ]\Iediterranean to the place of her nativity. As 
she passed up to the Navy Yard, the roar of her guns mingled 
with tlie eclioes from the Castle and from Constitution Wharf, 
the place of her birth. The guns were firing peaceful salutes 
instead of round shot and grape, but the presence of the idohzed 
frigate gave additional eclat to the national holiday. 

It was at one time decided to break her up, and orders had 
actually been issued to this effect. The destruction of her old 



192 



LANDMARKS OF BOSTOX. 



timbers seemed like an act of sacrilege, and gave rise to Holmes's 
mncli admired lines expressive of tlie imiversal feeling (jf con- 
demnati()n. To the poet's impassioned outburst is due the 
preservation of the Constitution on the roll of the American 

Navy: — 

"0, liotter that her shattered hull 
Sliould sink beneath the wave ; 
Her thunders shook tlie mighty deep, , 

And tliere should be her grave. 
Nail to the mast her holy Hag, 

Set every threadbare sail. 
And give her to the god of storms. 
The lightning, and the gale." 

From the old timliers were made a number of relics wliicli 
have no douljt been highly prized by their possessors. jNIr. 
Barker, the constructor, sent a cane to Joshua Humphries, her 
original designer. In 183(3 a beautiful coach was built entirely 
of the wood of the old frigate at Anilierst, Mass., intended as 




Tni CON TITITI N IIAI LPD I P ( N THE W WS 

a New- Year's present to Cleneral Jackson from several gentlemen 
of Xew York City. Commodore Hull presented canes from the 
original wood to President Jackson, Mr. Van Euren, and Mr. 
Poinsett at the time the ship was docked. 



A VISIT TO THE OLD SIIIPYAKOS. 193 

The captured flags of the Cyane, Levant, Guerriere, and Java 
are iu the Xaval Academy at Annapolis, hut of her original 
hattery, hefore which the " wooden walls of Old luigland " went 
down, no traces have been found. One of the guns was dented 
by the enemy's shot ; but we have reason to apprehend that these 
dogs of war were broken up and treated as so much old Iron. 

The Constitution carried out Ministers Barlow and Cass to 
France, and brought home Mr. Livingstone antl family. Her 
flag has been seen in nearly every sea, and her deck has been 
trod by many noble personages. In 1822, while in the ]\Iedi- 
terranean, she was visited by Lord Byron, who, while endeavor- 
ing to preserve his incognito, was much embarrassed at finding 
all the officers on deck in full uniform to receive him. Lord 
Byron was accompanied by Count Gamba, father of the Count- 
ess Guiccioli. A beautifully bound volume of his poems was 
lying on the cabin table, which he took up with evident pleasure 
at the delicate compliment implied. 

An e[)isode of this visit caused Byron to remark, " that he 
would rather have a nod from an American tlian a snuff-box 
from an emperor." Tliis is in ])leasing contrast Avith the surly 
saying of Johnson, — ■ " I am willing to love all mankind except 
an American." At this time Commodore Jacob Jones flew his 
broad pennant on board the old craft. 

After Old Ironsides had emerged a new ship from j\Ir. Bar- 
ker's hands, there happened to her an adventure that awakened 
at the time' the most intense excitement in Boston, and which, 
from its peculiar aspects, was soon communicated all over 
the seaboard. This was known as the " Affair of the Figure- 
Head." Andrew Jackson was President, and had been greeted 
with the consideration due his official staiion during his visit to 
Boston of the previous year. Under this outward courtesy, 
however, was an undercurrent of political antagonism, apparent 
enough in the public prints of the day. Cheers were raised for 
IMr. Clay in Faneuil Hall at the time of General Jackson's re- 
co])tion there. The old political party which controlled Boston 
was jnitting on the new title of " Whig," under which it subse- 
quently fought. Not even the LL. D. conferred upon the I'res- 

9 M 



194 LANDMARKS OF BOSTON. 

ideut at Harvard could reconcile the opposition witli tlie acts 
of his administration. 

The appearance oi' the frigate Constitution, therefore, with a 
figurediead of President Jackson was greeted with a storm of 
disapproval. When it was known that it was the intention of 
Commodore Jesse D. Elliott, the then conmiandcr of the Navy 
Yard, to thus ornament the frigate's bows, and that Laban S. 
Ueecher, tlie Avell-known Boston carver, was at Avork upon it, 
threats were freely made that she would not be alloweil to go 
to sea with the obnoxious image. Large bribes Avere also ollered 
to the artist to destroy his work, but he remained true to his 
employers, working on the figurediead in his garret, which 
served alike as his atelier and citadel. Alarmed, however, by 
the menaces against Beecher, and thinking tlie head no longer 
safe in his custody, Commodore Elliott caused its removal by 
an armed boat's crew to the Navy Yard, Avhere it was })laced in 
the enginediouse and finished by Beecher at his leisure. The 
figure represented the President in the Hermitage scene, holding 
in his hand a scroll with the motto, " The Union it must lie 
preserved." Beecher was also engaged upon the busts of Hull, 
Bainbridge, and Stewart for stern ornaments of the frigate. 

The graven image was placed at the Constitution's stem, but 
on the 3d of July (1834) was discovered to have been muti- 
lated, — the head lieing sawed completely off, leaving only the 
body of the Chief Magistrate. The affliir caused a great noise. 
It was committed during the prevalence of a violent thunder- 
storm, with sentinels pacing the ship's deck, wdiile she herself 
lay moored between two seventy-fours (the Independence and 
Columbus) oif the yard. The act was a daring one, and con- 
jecture was for a long time busy as to its author, who, however, 
maintained a prudent reserve until the excitement caused by 
the affair had time to cool. "WHiat this excitement was may be 
understood when it is stated that the people of Wheeling, Va., 
rang the bells, assemliled in i)ublic meeting, and passed resolu- 
tions approving the act. 

On the night in (piestion, Captain Dewey, a Boston ship- 
master, obtained a small rowdxtat, and dropped ([uietly down 



A VISIT TO THE OLD SHIPYARDS. 195 

with the tide to wliere the frigate lay iiKxired. Seeiiriiif,' his 
hoat lie proceeded to his work, in the accoinplishinont of which 
he had to cut through a copper bolt. (Several times the sentry 
on deck looked over the how, — hearing perha[).s the noise of 
the saw, — when the workman ceased his labor for the time. 
The rain poured in torrents, which, with the intense darkness, 
favored the bold operator. The head of Jackson, like a victim 
of the seraglio, fell into a sack. Dewey pulled to the shore 
and repaired to meet some friends at a public-house, where his 
success was duly celebrated. 

In this plight the Constitution — she was then in commis- 
sion — proceeded to Xew York, where, in due time, a second 
figure-head bearing the same features took the place of the 
headless one. To secnre it from a similar mutilation, a copper 
bolt of extraordinary tluckness was placed perpendicularly in 
the head. At the Charlestown Navy Yard may be seen the 
bust of General Jackson from which the original was mod- 
elled. 

In ISIarch, 1835, the Constitution sailed from ISTew York for 
the Mediterranean as flag-ship of Commodore Elliott, since 
which time her history is that of a useful but peaceful sliij:). 
At the outbreak of the Eebellion she was lying at Annapolis, 
Avhere she would doubtless have shared the fate of the govern- 
ment vessels at Norfolk and elsewhere, had not our soldiers 
opportunely se(;ured the place. Edward E. Preble, a grandson 
of the commodore, was on board the Constitution at this time. 
After being useil as quarters for the midshii)men of the Naval 
Academy at Newport and Annapolis, she was, in 1871, towed 
round to Philadelphia and laid up. She will bear a conspicuous 
part in the centennial celebration of 1876. 

From sources already mentioned it is ascertained that she 
captured eight armed vessels carrying one hundred and fifty- 
eight guns, and ten unarmed prizes. From this statement it 
will be seen that her crews shared more hard knocks than prize 
money. 

The next war-vessel built at Ilartt's yard was the P>oston 
frigate of seven hundred tons, so called because she was built 



19G LANDMARKS OF BOSTON. 

by the subscription of Boston merchants and others, and given 
a free-will ottering t(j the government. She was designed, 
probaldy, by j\Ir. Hartt, and built imder his superintendence. 
Her rate was to liave been a thirty-six, but she mounted only- 
twenty-eight guns. (Jn the 22d of August, 1798, her keel was 
laid, and in April, 1791), President Adams appointed Captain 
George Little, of Massachusetts, to command her. June 12 
she liavded into the stream, and sailed on her first cruise July 
24, 1799. She Avas declared to be one of the handsomest ves- 
sels that ever lioated. 

The names of thosp persons who contributed to build the 
Boston are worthy of preservation. A notice appeared in the 
Centinel of June 27, 179<S, that a sul)scription would 1)0 opened 
in the chamber over Taylor's hisurance (Jthce (corner of State 
and Kilby Streets) at one o'clock, " where those who wish to 
join in this testimonial of pidjlic spirit " miglit affix their sig- 
natures. At this meeting $ 115,250 was raised, of which Hon. 
William Phillips gave $ 10,000. This subscription was subse- 
quently increased to |1 30,000; the frigate cost $137,969. 
David Sears, Stephen Higginson, Eben Parsons, John Codman, 
Joseph Coolidge and Son, Theodore Lyman, Boot and Pratt, 
and Thomas Dickinson gave $ 3,000 each. Samuel Parkman 
and Samuel Elliott gave $ 4,000 each. Beujanun Joy, James 
and T. H. Perkins, Thomas "Walley, John Parker, Stephen Hig- 
ginson, Jr., Abiel Smith, and Thomas C. Amory are down for 
$1,500 each. St. Andrew's Lodge gave |1,000. Benjamin 
and ]>[athaniel Goddard and eJosiah Quincy gave $ 500. The 
givers of smaller smns are not less deserving of mention, but 
are too numerous for our limits. 

The Boston got to sea during the hostilities Avith France, and 
soon distiuguished lierself on the West India station by cap- 
turing Le Berceau, a ship of twenty-four guns and two hundred 
and twenty men ; Les Deux Anges, ship of twenty guns ; three 
barges, and three unarmed ])rizes. At this time she was one of 
Commodor.': Tall)ot's S([uadron. The next year, under command 
of ('a|itain iMcXeil, the Boston carried a minister to France 
and joined the Mediterranean ileet. 



A VISIT TO THE OLD SHIPYARDS. 197 

Captain Little brought Le Bcn-ceau, Ms prize, into Boston 
early in November. The Frenchman was com])letely dismasted 
in tlie engagement, but was repaired and restored to the French 
under treaty stipulations. For circumstances attending this 
capture, Captain Little was court-martialled, the court sitting 
on board the Constitution, but was honorably acquitted. In 
her action with Le Berceau the Boston had four killed and 
eight wounded. ■ The French prisoners were confined at the 
Castle. 

In 1812 the Boston was reported unworthy of repair, and in 
1814, when the British were advancing on Washington, she was 
burned to prevent her falling into the enemy's hands. 

The brig Argus, sixteen guns, two hundred and twenty-six 
tons, was built at Ilartt's yard in 1803, at a cost of $37,420. 
She was designed by Mr. Hartly. In August, 1813, having 
landed Mr.' Crawford, our IMinister to France, at Havre, she 
proceeded to cruise off the Fnglish and Irish -coasts, and cap- 
tured and burnt so many vessels that the Irish declared the 
Channel was all ablaze. Between the Shannon and the Liffey 
she caj)tured twenty vessels, most of which were burnt. On the 
14tli August, 1813, the Argus fought and was captiu'ed by the 
British Ijrig Pelican, of twenty-one guns. Lieutenant Wm. H. 
Allen of the Argus was mortally wounded early in the conflict ; 
he was Decatur's first lieutenant when he took the Macedonian. 
The Argus had also been a busy cruiser during the war with 
Tripoli. Both Hull and Decatur had commanded her. 



198 LANDMARKS OF BOSTON. 



CHAPTER VII. 

COPP'S HILL AND THE VICINITY. 

Copji's Hill. — British Works. — Ancient Arch. — Win. Gray. — Old Ferry. 
— Reminiscences of Bunker Hill. — The Cemetery. — Curious Stones, 
Epitaplis, etc. — Old Funeral Customs. — Charter Street. — Sir Wra. 
Pliips. — Jolin Foster Williams. — John Hull. — Colonial Mint. — Christ 
Church. — Revere's Night Ride. — The Chimes. — The Vaults, — Legends 
of. — Major Pitcairn. — Love Lane. — North Latin School. — Prince Street. 
"• — Salem Church. — North End Heroes. — Captain Manly. — Massachu- 
setts Spy. — First Baptist Church. — Second Baptist Church. ■ — Draft Riot, 
1863. 

WE pnrsuG our way, after our long lialt among the .sliip- 
yards, around the hase of Copp's IlilL The liill itself 
is the early Mill Field of 1632 and later, so called hecause the 
Avindmill used to grind tlie settlers' corn was brought from Cam- 
hridge in this year and placed upon the summit. This was the 
first windmill erected in the town. The appearance of Copp's 
Ilill, which name is fr(im AVilliam Copp, an early possessor, is 
very dili'erent to-day from what it was in 1800. At that time 
the hill terminated ahrupfly on the northwest side in a rugged 
clilF almost inaccessible from the water-side. Southerly, the 
ground fell away in an easy descent to the bottom of North 
Square and the shore of the Mill Pond, while to the eastward 
a gradual slope conducted to the North Battery. The beacli at 
the foot of the headland, opposite Charlestown, was maile into 
a street with earth taken from the summit of the hill, which 
Avas where Snow-Hill Street now crosses it. This made Lynn 
Street, — our Commercial Street extension, — and afforded a 
continuous route along the water. 

doing noi'th, the rising ground at Pichmoiid Street indicates 
the beginning of tlie ascent. The hill has been known as Wind- 
mill Hill and as Snow Hill ; but our ancestors were never at a 



COPPS HILL AND THE VICINITY. 



199 




ANCIENT MILL. 



loss for names, as appears in the redundancy of tlieir street 
nomenclature. The foot of the hill, at the northeasterly side, 
went in old times by the name of New Guinea, on account 
of its being exclusively inhabited by 
blacks. A representation is here given 
of the kind of Avindmdl used by the 
lii'st settlers of Boston. Its architecture 
dilfers entirely from the mills used by 
the French in Canada, the old stone 
mill at Newport, or of the western set- 
tlements of the French. It is a copy 
of one set up at AVest Boston, the de- 
sign for which may have been brought 
from the Low Countries. 

The work erected by the British from 
which they bombarded the Americans on Bunker Hill and 
set fire to Charlestown, was on the summit of the eminence, 
near the southwest corner of the Burial Ground. It was a 
small affair, consisting, when it was visited in the following year 
(177G), of only a few barrels of earth to form parapets. I'lu-ee 
twenty-eight pounders, mounted on carriages, were left spiked 
within. The battery was covered by a small earthwork to the 
rear designed for the infantry. Traces of these works remained 
until the summit was levelled in 1807. 

At the foot of Henchman's Lane, when the work of excava- 
tion was proceeding at this point, there was uncovered an arch 
built of brick, of large dimensions, with an opening at the water 
side. There was originally a high bank at this place, — the 
arch spanning the then Lynn Street and communicating with 
the cellar of a house on the north side. About forty years ago, 
when digging for the foundation of the houses on the east side 
of the street, the remains of the arch were found, and are still 
to be seen in the cellar of the house opposite Henchman's Lane. 

Those who examined it while it was intact are of the opinion 
that it was intended as a place of concealment for smugglers and 
their contraband goods. ]\Iany speculations were indulged as 
to its origin and its uses, the theory that it was a retreat for 



200 LANDMARKS OF BOSTON. 

pirates Leing the favorite one. Time has disclosed that it Avas 
built by a Ca2)taiii (Jruchy during the I'rench wars, and used as 
a place of deposit for captured goods. Perhaps the captain Avas 
a free-trader, or litted out privateers to jirey upon the commerce 
of the Frene.il king. (Jlruchy was a subse(|uent owner of Sir 
William Phips's house, his land running down the hill to tlie 
water's edge. He huilt him a wharf of two captured vessels, 
which he sunk for the purpose.'^ These old arches were a 
unitpie feature of Old lioston, and douljtless began to he huilt 
about the time Pandolph made the attempt to collect the king's 
excise. Another is noted huilt by Edward Hutchinson from 
his house on North Street. 

Lynn Street is described in 1708 as from the Niirtli Battery 
northwesterly to the Ferry- way at Hudson's Point ; it retained 
this name until after 1828. Pefore it was built into a tlior- 
ougldare this street was only a narrow way around the beach. 
Henchman's Lane is coeval with Lynn Street in receiving its 
name, which was from Cajttain Daniel Henchman, father of the 
bookseller, who lived Avithin its precincts. 

We next come to Foster Street, in the lower part of Avhicli 
was formerly the cannon and bell foundry of Paul Pevere. TJp 
to the time of the establishment of these Avorks both cannon 
and l)ells Avere imported; but Pevere cast brass guns success- 
fully, and some of his bells still hang in our steeples. Hollo w- 
ware, stoA'es, and a A'ariety of articles for domestic use Avere 
manufactured at this foundry, erected previous to 1794. 

The rain had been fliliing as Ave continued our Avalk through 
the tiltliy street along the Avater. The air Avas tilled Avith the 
stench arising under the Avarm sun from the mud and garbage 
of the gutter, and from every door and AvindoAV of the over- 
croAvded tenements peered forth a SAvarm of dirty humanity. 
Some one has called the Irish the tinest peasantry in the Avorld, 
but perha})S he had not seen them herded together in our cities. 
Musing on these disenchanting features of our anti(piarian jmr- 
suit, Ave east our eyes upward in the direction of Christ Church 
steeple, Avhit:h serves us as a guide and lieacon, — 

* Mrs. Crutker'.s Muiuoir. 



COPP'S HILL AND THE VICINITY. 201 

" And lo ! from out a dirty alley, 
Where pigs and Irish wont to rally, 
I saw a crazy woman .sally, 
Bedaubed with grease aiul mud." 

Tlie reader knows wliat a tritie will suffice to collect a crowd 
in tlie city. Let a single individual stop in one of our crovVded 
thoroughfares and gaze intently in any direction, he will be 
instantly surrounded by a curious, gaping multitude. We 
quickened oxiT pace, and left behind us the throng gathering 
around the poor creature crazed with drink, blaspheming, and 
tearing lier hair by handfuls. In this manoeuvre we were antici- 
pated by a prudent policeman who turned the comer in our front. 

About half-way from the ferry to Charlestown Bridge is (Jray's 
"Wharf, built by Hon. William Gray, better known by the so- 
briquet of '' liilly." Beginning at the lowest round of the 
ladder, he climbed to the highest mercantile eminence, and at 
the time of his death, in 1825, was the largest sliip owner in 
America, perhaps in the world. He was the owner at one time 
of sixty square-rigged vessels, whose sails whitened every sea. 
Mr. Gray, after acting in the State Legislature, was elected lieu- 
tenant-gm^ernor with Ell)ridge (Jerry in 1810. He was a Dem- 
ocrat in i)olitics, sustaining the embargo, notwithstanding it 
inflicted a heavy loss upon him. He lived in Summer Street, 
in the mansion previously occupied by Governor Sullivan. 

There were few to whom the face of the old merchant Avas 
not familiar. He was an early riser, and performed a consid- 
erable amount of work before breakfast. Affable in intercourse, 
imostentatious in nianner, Mr. Gray was also a man of practical 
benevolence. He aided the government largely in 1812, and 
it is said but for him the Constitution would not 'have got t<T 
sea and electritied the nation by her exploits. Mr. Gray was 
the first president of the State Bank, the first democratic bank- 
ing institution that obtained a charter in Massachusetts. After 
the Treaty of Ghent, Mr. Gray presided over a public dinner 
given to John Quincy Adams, at which the venerable patriarch, 
John Adams, was also present. Mt. Gray's old homestead in 
Salem afterwards became the Essex Coffee House. 

Benjamin Goodwm, mentioned in the preceding chapter in 
9* 



202 LANDMARKS OF 'BOSTON. 

connection with the seventy-four, hved in a liouse between 
Charter and Lynn Htreets extending from one street to the 
other. Cioodwin's Wharf extended from a point ojiposite Ms 
house, and was sixty to eighty rods east of tlie bridge. He 
carried on a distillery, bake-house, and blacksmith-shop. The 
l')remises were seized by order of the British general, and occu- 
jiied by his troops at the time of the battle of Bunker Hill. 
The soldiers afterwards wantonly destroyed much of the prop- 
erty and some of the buildings, ]\[r. Goodwin's damages being 
estimated at £ 1,500, lawful money. 

Hudson's Point, the extreme northwest point of the toAvn, 
Avas named from Francis Hudson, the ferry-man. It is lirst 
called " y*^ jNIylnc Point," in the grant of the ferry to Thomas 
Marshall in 1(335. At this point Avere estaldished both the 
ferries to ('harlestown and Chelsea. To be exact, the Perry- 
way was, in 1720, between Mr. Gee's and Hudson's Point, and 
]\Ir. doshua ( rce, the boat-builder, owned the present })roperty 
of the Gas Company, his residence being in Prince tStreet, a 
short distance from his yard. This Mr. Gee was also owner of 
a large tract on Copp's Hill, between Charter, Prince, and Snow- 
Hill Streets. The town voted in 1720 to move the General 
Court to take action about a bridge at this place, but no action 
followed. 

Among the reminiscences of the old Ferry, besides l)eing the 
probable lamling of Winthrop's company and the })lacc where 
the lirst white woman jumped ashore, it is noted as the point 
of debarkation for tlie British wounded from Bunker Hill. 
Their admitted loss in tliis battle was two hundred and twen.ty- 
six killed, eight hundred and twenty-eight wounded, tliough 
estimates have been made as high as fifteen hundred. In 
Froth inghanr's account of the battle is the following description 
of the harrowing scene : — 

" The wounded during tlie whole night and the next day were 
conveyed to Boston, where tlie streets were tilled witli groans and 
lamentation. A letter nt June 30, 177"), suys : 'I have seen many 
from Boston who were eyewitnesses df the most melancholy scene 
they ever beheld in this part uf the world. The Saturday night and 



COrP'.S HILL AND TIIK VICINITY. 203 

Sabbath were taken up in carrying over the dead and wounded ; and 
all the wood-curts in town, it is said, were employed, — chaises and 
coaches for the othcers. They have taken the workhouse, almshouse, 
and manufactory house for the wounded.' The physicians, surgeons, 
and apothecaries of Boston rendered every assistance in theii' power. 
The processions were melancholy sights. ' In the first carriage,' 
writes Clarke, ' was Major Williams, bleeding and dying, and three 
dead captains of tlie 52d. In the second, four dead officers ; then 
another with wounded officers.' The privates who died on the field 
were immediately bui'ied there, — ' in holes,' Gage's report states. 
' On Monday morning,' a British account says, ' all the dead officers 
were decently buried in Boston in a private manner, in the different 
churches and chiu-chyaAls there.'" 

Francis Eawdon, afterwards ]\Iarquis of Hastings, and George 
Ilatris, afterwards a peer, were both officers of the 5th, and 
wounded. The 5th, 59tli, and the Welsh Fusileers were ter- 
ril)ly cut up. 

The first act of the British commander before the Lexington 
expedition, which had a hostile look, was the hauling of the 
Somerset man-of-war from the stream where she had been lying 
into Charles River, so as to command the Ferry-ways. This is 
stated in the Salem Gazette of April 18, 1775, and was to pre- 
vent communication of the intended movement to the country. 
This vessel served to cover the disorderly retreat of the regulars 
over Charlestown Neck on their return from Lexington and 
Concord. We shall see that the Somerset's watch was ill-kept, 
and that a North End mechanic looked into the muzzles of her 
guns as he carried Warren's errand and spread the tidings 
abroad. The Somerset went ashore on Cape Cod during the 
war, and her officers and crew were made prisoners by the 
militia, and sent to Boston. 

When Burgoyne's army "was near Cambridge as prisoners of 
war, some of the officers pushed on over the ferry into Boston ; 
but their hopes of comfortable quarters and good cheer were 
speedily dasheil, for they Avere all peremptorily ordered back to 
the prisoners' camps at Union, AYinter, and Prospect Hills, 
where barracks had been prepared for them. Burgoyne him- 
self had the privilege of entree into the town, which he im- 



204 



LANDMARKS OF BOSTON. 



proved as avc have seen, tlidUgL times were cliairjjcd since ho 
st(H)il on Cojjp's Hill and sa\v his cumrades-in-arms advance up 
the hillside across the river to storm the American redouht. 
Burgoyne's graphic account of the l:)attle written to Lord Stau- 
l(>y has su])plied the hest English narration of the hattlo of 
Bunlier Hill. A rapier once belonging to the !!;cneral is iu 
possession of a descendant of that Benjamin Goodwin Avhose 
pro|)erty was so ill-used hy the king's troops. 

Copp's Hill Biuying-Grouud, first called the North Burying- 

Place, was the second place of 

sepulture within the town. 

About three acres is enckised 
^ by the cemetery walls, made 

up of several tracts. The 



first was conveyed to the town 
in 1G59, and composed the 
northeastern part. An addi- 
tional parcel was conveyed in 
1711 by Samuel Hewall and his wife Hannah, the daughter of 
John Hull, for the purpose of enlargement. In the convey- 
ance was reserved " one rodd square in Avliich Mrs. Mary 
Thatcher now lyeth buried," which they had previously con- 
veyeil to Joshua (iee. The deed also gave, the right of way 




THE MATHER TOMB. 



a<'.ri>ss the burying-ground, so that a small piece of jiriA'ate 
pr()[)('rty, without any restrictions as to its use, exists in the 
midst of the cemetery. Another strip of land was ad<led 
on the Hull Street side in after years. On the Snow-Hill 
Street side the hill has lieen cut down twenty feet, the cem- 
etery being there protected by a heavy granite wall. A gun- 
house once stood in the southeast corner of the new part of 
the cemetery. 

When we are at King's Chapel, or the Granary Burial- 
Grouiul, anud the bustle of a crowded tin iroughfare, the mind 
is wh(jlly divestetl of those feelings of calm and solitude with 
whi('h we are accustomed to view the last resting-idaces of the 
dead. The superstitious do not hurry })ast, Tior do tlie timid 
pass l)y on the other side. The absence of funeral rites for so 



COPP'S HILL AND THE VICIXITY. 205 

long a time deprives them of the awe and reverence wliich such 
luouruful pageants inspire ; the hving move on in a continual 
tide, unljrukeu except in the still watches of the night, sepa- 
rated only by a narrow barrier from the motionless dead. 

But in Copp's Hill it is different. Quiet prevails, and we 
almost expect to hear the clinic of Old Mortality's chisel among 
the gravestones. 

" Beneath those rugged elms, that yew-tree's shade, 
Where heaves the turf ui many a mouldeiing heap, 
Each in his narrow cell forever laid, 

The rude forefathers of the hamlet sleep." 

Copp's Ildl is, however, strangely like the Chapel Ground in 
one respect. The same mathematical i^recision is observable in 
the laying out of the walks and arrangement of the stones. 
"While a cemetery may be beautihed under a competent hand, 
what can excuse the wholesale depredations made among the 
bones of our ancestors of the North End ? 

Apparently the oldest stone in this cemetery bears the date 
of 162.5, or before the settlement of Boston, being that of 
Grace Berry ; that of Joanna, daughter of William Co])}), is 
dated 1G25-G. It is said that these stones were altered in a 
boyish freak, by George Darracott, and tlius made to falsify his- 
tory. It is worthy of remark that in Bridgman's epitaphs of 
Copp's Hill, these inscriptions are given as altered, mthout ex- 
planation. The true dates are 1G9.5-6. 

Since the beautiful syml)olic customs of the Greeks and Bo- 
mans, their emblems arc to be found in every churchyard. The 
broken column, the cylinder and sphere, the monumental urn 
and torch, are types derived from antiquity. The pyramids 
of Egypt, the tombs by the banks of the Nile, now used by the 
living, and the splendid mausoleums of the Greeks and Romans, 
are evidences of the respect and veneration felt for the departed 
in centuries gone by. Inscriptions were early used by the 
Greeks tmtil forbidden by Lycurgus, except to such as died in 
battle. Since then wit, humor, and sentiment have been ex- 
hausted on niarl)le or stone. Too many, perhaps, ]irofcss a 
virtue if they have it not ; others are facetious, marking the 



206 LANDMARKS OF BOSTON-. 

passage of a soul into eternity with a tiippaut jest. Pope and 

Byron wrote epitaphs on dogs, and Voltaire on a bird, wliile 

Prior demolishes the pretensions of Westminster Abbey in four 

lines : — 

" Nobles ;iuil heralds, liy your leave, 

Here lies what once was Matthew Prior, 
The sou of Adam and of Eve ; 
, Can Stuart or Nassau claim higher ? " 

The following is from a stone in Co])p's Hill : — • 

"A sister of Sarah Lucas lietli here, 
Whom I did love most dear. 
And now her soul hath took its fliglit, 
And bid her spightful foes good night." 

Many of the inscriptions are in rude contrast with the beau- 
tifully chiselled armorial bearings here seen, as in King's Cliapel 
Ground, the best executed s])ecimens of mortuary sculpture being 
usually imported from England. Some of the stones are indeed 
primitive, being little more than solid blocks, — massy, and 
scarce shaped into form. Quaint inscriptions, the traditional 
death'sdiead and hourglass, greet you on every hand. Many of 
the oilier inscriptions are illegiljle, — what wonder, after more 
than two hundred years' .contlict with the elements ! Is the 
spirit whicli prompted the pious work of Old iMortality extin- 
guished in our historical institutions 'I 

The singular juxtaposition of names strikes the reader of the 
headstones in Copp's Hill. Here repose the ashes of ]\[r. John 
Milk and Mr. "William Beer ; of Samuel Mower and Theodocia 
Hay ; Timothy Gay and Daniel Graves ; of Elizabeth Tout and 
Thomas Scoot. Here lie Charity Brown, Elizabeth Scarlet, and 
ISIarcy AVhite ; Ann Ruby and Emily Stone. The old f nniliar 
North End names are here on every side. The nuguen(.)t 
Sigourneys ; the Grays, of rope-making fame ; the INIountforts, 
claiming descent from the Norman Concptest. Edmund Hartt, 
builder of the Constitution ; Deacon Moses Grant and IVIajor 
Seward of Revolutionary memory, and a host of others who go 
to swell the ranks of the unnumbered dead. 

On the Cliarter Street side, near the northeast corner of the 
gi'ound, is a beautiful weeping willow, its foliage drooping grace- 



COPP'S HILL AND THE VICINITY. 207 

fully over the monumeut of Joshua Ellis. Tliis "willow came 
from the grave of the great Corsican at 8t. Helena, having been 
brought in a vessel from the island. 

Interments are now restricted to the tombs, and if we ex- 
cept the occasional pilgrimage of a stranger, the cemetery seems 
to be the conunon playground of the children of the neighbor- 
hood. Brick rises on all sitles to exclude the glorious view 
Avhich once expanded before the spectator ; only glimpses are 
obtained of the distant s})ires and monument of Charlestown, 
with perhaps a hand's-breadth here and there of the river and 
shipping below. 

Acts of vandalism are recorded with respect to some of the 
gravestones in the yard. Those of Grace Berry and Cajjtain 
Daniel jMalcolm having served King George's soldiers for target- 
l^ractice, by which they were splintered, and the inscriptions 
defaced. The names on some "of the old tombs have been 
obliterated and others substituted. The beautiful coat of arms 
of the Hutcldnsons has been thus desecrated. So says Thomas 
Bridgman in his Epitaphs. The remains of Thomas • Hutch- 
inson, father of the goA^ernor, once rested here. Besides the 
Matliers, Andrew and John Eliot, divines of old celebrity, lie 
here. 

From Copp's Hill Burgoyne and Clinton witnessed the fight 
on Bunker Hill, and dirt;i;ted the tire of the battery. It was a 
shell from here that set lire to Charlestown, adding to the gran- 
deur and horror of the scene. Clinton, seeing the ranks of his 
veterans reel and fall back before the murderous discharges from 
the redoubt, tlu-ew himself into a boat and crossed to the aid of 
Howe. 

The British shipping took a prominent part in this battle, 
especially the Glasgow, which lay in a position where she swept 
Charlestown Neck with her guns, thus preventing reinforce- 
ments passing over to the Americans, and harassing their retreat 
from the hill. An American officer told Putnam no one could 
cross that Xeck and live ; nevertheless it is stated, on the au- 
thority of INlajor Bussell, that a number of Boston school-boys 
crossed and recross.'d during the battle. 



208 



LANDMARKS OF BOSTON. 




The Glasgow was also one of the fleet that lirought the Brit- 
ish troops to i)Oston in 176(S. The engraving is from an original 
drawing, and shows the style of naval architectnre in the last 
century. 

Out of tliis tranquillity we can with dithculty conjure up the 

scene of carnage that unce 
raged upon the hillside yon- 
der. The still, starry night 
that preceded the battle, when 
a thousand men, stacking their 
lirelocks, with mattock and 
spade threw up the first ram- 
part of the Eevolutiou. Grid- 
es, ley, the veteran engineer, 
"^^^ ' "" marking out the works upon 

""'''"■• the wet turf, with Pomeroy, 

Prescott, Putnam, and many more that heard 

" The drum tliat beat at Louisburg and tluiuderud in Quebec ! " 

How strangely to their ears must have sounded the cry of the 
Pritish sentinel, " All 's well ! " as he paced where we now 
stand. To the lal)()rers im that sultry night this cry was hailed 
at every hour as proof of their undiscovered toil. 80 the de- 
fences grew, hour by hour, until the morning dawned on the 
eventful day. 

In tliis battle General Gage's military reputation was lost. 
By his neglect to seize and hold Charlestown heights a battle was 
forced upon him, Avith the loss of Pritish prestigi^ and twelve 
liunihvil (if hi.s liravest suldiers. And Howe, notwithstanding 
the l)ittcr experience of that day, repeated the same experiment 
at Dorchester Heights before a year had passed. 

It was once the custom to hang the escutcheon of a deceased 
hcail of a family from the window or ovta- the entrance of a 
house from which a funeral was to take place until it was over. 
The last instance noted is that of Governor Hancock's uncle, 
Tliomas Hancock, in 1704. Copies of the escutcheon were 
distrilnited among the pall-ljearers, rings afterward, and gloves 



* COPP'S HILL AND THE VICINITY. 209 

Avithin fifty years. Scarfs were once given tlie mourners, but 
tliis was prohibited, in 1724, by law. 

Before Copp's Hill was built upon so densely, it served the 
North End population as a place of promenade and recreation. 
The Common was far too distant, and wanted the attraction of 
the beautiful panorama of the harbor then to be seen from this 
eminence. The character of this (quarter of the town has since 
then undergone a change, its residents no longer claiming the 
liigh standing once their due. The hill, fortunately for its 
preservation, is not in the line of the movement- of traffic, and. 
has experienced little alteration in the last twenty-five years. 

After the surrender of Quebec tlie North-Enders made an 
unexampled bonfire on Copp's Hill. Forty-live tar-barrels, two 
cords of wood, a mast, spars, and boards, with fifty pounds of 
powder, were set in a blaze, and must have cast a ruddy glow 
over the waters of the bay. This, with a similar ilhunination 
on Fort Hill, was paid for by the province, together with thirty- 
two gallons of rum and much l)eer for the people. 

Charter Street, which makes the northern boundary of the 
cemetery, takes its name from the Charter of King William III. 
Under it Maine, Plymouth, and Massachusetts formed a single 
provincial government. The name has stood since 1708. 

Sir AVilliam l^hips's name is closely identified Avith the 
street, both as a resident and for having been the first governor 
undw" tlie new charter. His residence was at the westerly cor- 
ner of Salem and Charter Streets, which long went by the name 
of Phips's Corner. The house Avas of brick, altered by the 
addition of a third story in the present century, and was used 
in 1830 as an Asylum for Indigent Boys. The governor's name 
is remembered in Phi[)s Place, near at hand. 

Governor Phips's origin was obscure. An apprentice to a 
ship-carpenter in early youth, he- is natiu'ally found among his 
craftsmen of the North End. He received knighthood for the 
recovery of £ 300,000 of treasure, in 1687, from a sunken 
Spanish galleon, near the Bahamas, all of which he turned 
over to the English government, receiving £ 16,000 as his 
share. He made two expeditions against Canada in 1690, — 

N 



210 LANDMARKS OF BOSTON. 

one against Quebec, resulting unsuccessfully, and anr)ther in 
Avliich his fleet captured I'ort lioyal. It is .said he received his 
appointment through the inlluencc of Increase Mather, while 
the doctor was agent for the colony in England. 

The occasion of the governor's arrival in Boston, May, 1G92, 
was one of great rejoicing. On the 16th he was escorted from 
his dwelling to the State House by the Boston Regiment and 
companies from Charlestown, with the magistrates and peoi)le, 
not only of Boston, but tlie neigliljoring towns. The new 
charter and the governor's commission were then read fr<:)m the 
balcony, according to custom, and the old governor, Bradstreet, 
vacated his office. A bancjuet closed the cercuKinies. 

Dr. Cotton Mather says Phips dreamed when a poor boy 
that he would become rich and build him a house on the Green 
Lane, the ancient name of Salem Street. He lived to realize 
his dream, and become the head of the colony. 

Sir William was a man of ungovernable temper. He assaulted 
Brenton, the collector of the port, and caned Captain Short, of 
the Nonesuch frigate. He was of large stature and great per- 
sonal strength, which made these personal conflicts undesiral)le 
to his foes. An instance is given of his having acted a Crom- 
wellian part. Having procured, by a bare majority, the passage 
of an act prohiliiting any but residents of the town they repre- 
sented to be members of the General Court, Sir William rushed 
into the chanil)er and drove out the non-resident representa- 
tives, who did not stand upon the order of their going, but left 
the goveriior master of the field. Governor Phips was a mem- 
ber of the Old North under the ministration of the Mathers. 
Asiile from his impetuous disposition, he is described as a man 
of sterling traits. He died in London in 1G95, and was ])uried 
in the church of St. Mary Woolnoth, where a long epitajjli 
commemorates his life and public services. 

Hutchinson relates that once in Sir William's absence his 
vriie, whose name was Mary (William and Mary Avere the 
reigning sovereigns), was applied to in behalf of a poor woman 
who had beeii committed under a charge of witchcraft, and that 
out of the goodness of hei- heart she sisined a warrant for the 



corps HILL AND THE VICINITY. 



211 



woman's discharge, which mandate Avas obeyed by the kee{)er of 
the jail without question, but with the ultimate loss of his place. 

In Cliarter Street lived the ancestors of John Foster Wil- 
liams, who, in the Massachusetts frigate Protector, of twenty- 
six guns, sunk the English ship Admiral Dulf, of thirty guns, 
during the Eevolutionary War. In this action Preble, after- 
wards commodore, was a midshipman with Williams, who died 
in Boston in 1814. Foster Street, now Clark, Was intended to 
perpetuate the old family. Paul lievere, the fidus Achates of 
Warren, lived and died in a house in Charter Street which ho 
bought near the close of the war of Independence. It stoud near 
Hanover Street, on the west side, where Revere Place now is. 

Spencer Phips, afterwards lieutenant-governor, was origi- 
nally named David Pennet, but took the name of his Uncle 
Phips when adopted by him. He also lived in Sir William's 
house. Spencer Phips was in office while William Shirley 
was governor, and was of course overshadowed by that remark- 
able man. Phips was succeeded by Hutchinson at his death 
in 1757. 

Hull Street boiuids the cemetery on the south. It is named 
for John Hull, through whose pasture it was laid out, and was 
conveyed to the town by Judge Samuel Sewall and wife, on 
the express condition that it should always bear that name. 

John Hull, the primitive owner of this lield, is famed a? the 
coiner of the first 
money in New Eng- 
land. The scarcity 
of silver in the col- 
ony for a circulating 
medium seems to 
have rendered the 
step necessary. The 
colonists being pur- 
chasers as yet, the bullion flowed out of the country. 

In the "History and Antiipiities of Boston" it is remarked : — 

"It was no small stretch of authoiity for a Colony or a Province 
to presume to coin money ; but this Colony was now very peculiarly 




PINE-TREE SHILLING 



212 



LAXD.MAIIKS OF BOSTON. 




situated, and its presumption in taking this step was greatly favored 
by the recent state of alfairs in the mother country." 

The mint was established at John Hull, the silversmith's, 
house, and he and liis coadjutor, liobert Sanderson, took oath 
that all the money coined by them should " be of the just alloy 
of the English cojne ; that every shilling should be of due 
weight, namely, three penny troj Aveight, and all other ])ieces 

proportiitnably, so neere as 

"^iTN ^Vy'^^'^^^''- \ ^^"'y could." This Avas, in 
H')-}2, the oi'igin of the old 
})inc - tree shilling. Hull's 
liouse was the same formerly 
owned by liev. John Cotton, 
In 1G54 an order of the f!en- 
eral Court prohibited the transportation out of its jurisdiction 
of more than twenty shillings " for necessary expenses " by 
any ^lerson. ►Searchers were appointed " to examine all packs, 
persons, trunks, chests, boxes or the like." The penalty was 
the seizure of the whole estate of the oft'ender. 

Hull l)egan }iot)r, and ended rich, many of his new shillings 
finding their way into his own 
strong-liox. He was a very worthy 
man, and a memlu'r of the First 
Church under liev. John AVilson. 
He married Judith, the daughter 
of Edmund Quincy, ancestor of 
that family in New England. From her is named that much- 
dreaded point of Narragansett Bay, where Neptune exacts his 
tributes from voyagers through the Sound. It is said, moreover, 
that Hannah Hull, his daughter, received for her wedding por- 
tion her weight in })ine-treo shillings when she married Judge 
Sewall, • — a statement probably originating in an ingenious com- 
putation of the weight of the sum she actually received. " From 
this marriage," remarks (^hiincy, " has sprung the eminent family 
of tlie S(!walls, which has given three chief justices to iMassa- 
chusetts anil one to Canada, and has been distinguislied in 
every generation by the talents and virtues of its mendjers." 




COPPS HILL AND THE VICINITY. 



21: 



Salem Street was, in 1708, from Mr. Phips's corner in 
Charter Street to Prince Street ; from thence to llum)\er it was 
Back Street. 

Christ Church spire has long dominated over this locality, 
and served as a landmark for vessels entering the harbor. It is 
the oldest church in Boston standing on its original ground, 
having been erected in 1723, — six years before the Old South. 
Of tlie fifteen churches built previous to 1750, only seven 
occu[)y their original sites ; the others may be found in the 
new city wliich has sprung up as if by magic in the old bed 
of Charles Eiver. 

This was the second Episcopal Church erected in 'the town. 
It has been in its day considered one of the chief architectural 
ornaments of the Xorth End. The body of the church has the 
plain monotonous style peculiar to all the old houses of wor- 
ship, but the 
steeple — the 
design of 
Charles Bui 
finch — • beau 
titiesthewhole 
structure. Tin 
old steeple wa> 
blown down in 
the great gale 
of 1804, fall 
ing upon an 
old wooden ^ 
building at the 
corner of Tiles 
ton Street, 
through which 
it crashed, to 
the consterni, 
tion of the 
tenants, who, 
however, es- 




CHRLST CHI K( H. 



CHRIST CHURCH. 
17-23. 



214 LAXDM.VRKS OF BOSTON. 

capi'd injury. In reliuildiu;^, tlie height was shortened about 

sixteen feet by Joseph Tucker, the 

builder. Over the entrance is a plain 

tablet with the name and date of the 

liouse. 

It is generally known that from this steeple — which was 
visible far and near — warning was given of the intended 
march to Lexington and Concord. Paul Itevere's narrative 
gives a relation of the method : — 

"On Tuesday evening, the 18th of April, 1775, it was observed 
that a iiundx'r of soldiers were marching towards Boston Common. 
About ten "o'clock Dr. Warren sent m great haste forme, and begged 
that I would innuediately set off for Lexington, Avliere were Hancock 
and Adams, and accjuaint them of the movement, and that it was 
thought they were the objects. The Sunday l^efore, by desire of 
Dr. Warren, I had been to Lexington to see Hancock and Adams, 
who were at Rev. Mr. Clark's. 

" I returned at night, through Charlestowni. There I agreed with 
a Colonel Conant and some other gentlemen that if the British went 
out by water we would show two lanterns in the North Church 
steeple, and if by hind, one, as a signal ; for we were apprehensive it 
would be ditticult to cross Charles River, or get over Boston Neck. 
I left Dr. Warren, called upon a friend, and desired him to make the 
signals. I then went home, took my boots and surtout, went to the 
north part of the town, where I had kept a boat. Two friends rowed 
me across Charles River, a little to the eastward, where the Somerset 
lay. It was then young flood ; the ship was winding, and the moon 
was rising. They landed me on the Charlestown side. When I got 
into town, I met Colonel Conant and several others. They said they 
hatl seen our signals." 

Within the steeple are hung a cliime of bells, placed there 
in 1744, — the first whose cadences gladdened the town. 

" Low at times and loud at times, 
And clianging like a poet's rllJ^nes, 
Rang the beautiful wild chimes." 

These bells were from the famous West of England foundry 
of Abel Itudhall, of Gloucester, Avhose bells have been heard 
in niany a town and hamlet of " IMerrie England." Each had 
an inscription containing its own and much contemporary his- 
tory, as follows : — 



COPP'S niLL AND THE VICINITY. 215 

FIRST BELL. 

"This peal of eight bells is the gift of a number of generous persons to Christ 
Church, ill Boston, N. E., Anno 1744. A. K." 

SKCdND BELL. 

"This Church was founded in the year 1723. Tiniotliy Cutler, D. D., the 
first Rector. A. R. 1723." 

THIRD BELL. 

"We are the first ring of bells cast for the British Empire in North America. 
A. R. 1744." 

FOURTH BELL. 

" God preserve the Church of England. 1744." 

FIFTH BELL. 

"William Sliirley, Esq., Governor of the Massachusetts Bay, in New Eng- 
land. Anno 1744." 

SIXTH BELL. 

" The subscription for tliese bells was begun by John Hammock and Robert 
Temple, Churcli Wardens, Anno 1743 ; completed by Robert Jenkins and 
John Gould, Churchwardens, Anno 1744." 

SEVENTH BELL. 

" Since generosity lias opened our moutlis, our tongues .shall ring aloud its 
-praise. 1744." 

EIGHTH BELL. 

"Abel Rudhall, of Gloucester, cast us all, Anno 1744." 

The cliiiues or " ring of bells," were obtained in England by 
Dr. Cutler, and were consecrated there. They Avere invested 
with the power to dispel evil spirits, — according to popular 
belief. The same bells still hang in the belfry. Their carillon, 
vibrating harmony on the air of a quiet Sabbath, summons the 
tlurd generation for whom they have proclaimed " Glory to God 
in the highest, and on earth peace, good-will toward men." 

Tlie chandeliers used formerly in the church were given by 
that Captain Gruchy we visited not long since. Mrs. Crocker's 
relation is, that they were taken from a Spanish vessel by one 
of Gruchy's privateers, and found their way to a Protestant 
Church instead of a Catholic Cathedral, as was intended. Dr. 
Cutler, the first rector, lived on tlie corner of Tileston and 
Salem Streets, in close proximity to the church. 

The height of tower and steei)le is 175 feet, and the aggi'egate 
weight of the bells 7,272 pounds ; the smallest weighing G20 



216 LANDMARKS OF BOSTON. 

pounds, the largest 1,545. General Gage, it is said, Avitnessed 
from Christ Cliurcli steeple the burning of Charlestown and 
battle of Bunker Hill. 

In this church is the first monument ever erected to the 
memory of Washington in our country. Dr. l>yles, the rector, 
left Boston in 1775, and went to St. Johns, Xew Brunswick, 
where he was settletl as rector and cure of the church of that 
place. This Dr. Byles was the son of Eev. Mather Byles, the 
punning parson of Hollis Street. There does not appear to 
have been a settled pastor after this until 1778. 

The interior has been considerably changed by alterations. 
Formerly there was a centre aisle, now closed, as is also the 
large altar Avindow. The ciiancel is decorated with paintings 
creditably executed by a Boston artist. The Avails of the church 
are of great strength, being tAVO feet and a half thick ; the 
Ijriek are laid in the style of the last century, in Avhat is termed 
the English Bond, of Avhich but a few specimens remain in 
Boston. 

Like many of the old Boston cluuxdies, this has its A';nilts 
underneath for the reception of the dead, and Avith them, of 
course, its legendary lore. In Shaw it is recorded that 

" In 1812, while the Avorkmen Avere employed building tombs, one 
of them luund the earth so loose that he settled his bar into it the 
Avhole length Avith a single eflort. The superintendent directed him 
to proceed till he found solid earth. Al)out six feet below the bot- 
tom of tlie cellar he found a coffin covered Avith a coai-se linen cloth 
sized with gum, Avhich, on boiling, became Avhite, and the texture as 
firm as if it had recently been Avoven. Within this coffin Avas another, 
protected from the air in a similar manner, and the furniture Avas 
not in tlie least injirred by time. The flesh was sound, and some- 
Avhat resembling that of an Egyptian mummy. The skin, when 
cut, resembled leather. The sprigs of ever^a-een, deposited in the 
coffin, resembled the liroad-leaved myrtle ; the stem Avas elastic ; the 
leaves fresh and apparently in a state of vegetation. From the in- 
scription it Avas found to be the body of a Mr. Thomas, a native of 
NcAV England, who died in Bermuda. Some of his family Avere 
among the founders of Christ Church. His remains, when discov- 
ered, had been entombed about eighty years." 



COPP'S HILL AND THE VICINITY. 217 

]\Iajor Pitcairn's remains were interred nnder this clmrch, 
and thereby hangs another legend. After being twice wounded, 
Pitcairn rallied his men for a third assault, and received his 
death- wound Avhile entering the redoubt, falling into the arms 
of his own son, who bore him to the boat. He was brought 
across the river and taken to the house of Mr. Stoddard, boat- 
builder, near the ferry, where he bled to death in a short time. 

Pitcairn was a large, portly man, and so was Lieutenant Shea, 
whose remains were also deposited under the church. The lat- 
ter died of fever ; and when, some time after the events of the 
Ecvolution, the body of Pitcairn was sent for by his relatives 
in England, it is said that of Lieutenant Shea was forwarded 
by mistake. The sexton was at a loss to identify the remains, 
but the presence of a large blistering plaster on the head of the 
body he sent to England seems to point to a blunder on his 
part. It has been questioned wliether the monument in West- 
minster Abbey to Pitcairn commemorates his bravery and death 
on the battle-field, or that of a man who died from inflamma- 
tion of the brain in his bed. 

Pitcairn will always be remembered as the leader of tlie ad- 
vance-guard who fired on the provincials at Lexington, and 
began the great drama of the Pevolution. He always main- 
tained tliat the minute-men fired first, which those present on 
the American side warmly disputed. This circumstance has 
associated I'itcairn's name with undeserved oljloquy, for he was 
a brave officer and a kind-hearted man. Of all the British 
officers in Boston, he alone, it is said, dealt justly and imjiar- 
tially by the townspeople in their disputes with the troops. 
His men were Avarmly attached to him, and declared they had 
lost a fother when he fell. Gage sent liis own physician to 
attend him. The bullet which laid tlie gallant marine low was 
fired by a negro soldier from Salem. The regiment which he 
commanded arrived from England in the latter part of Decem- 
ber, 1774, in the Asia, Boyne, and Somerset. 

llev. William Montague, rector of Christ Church, was tlie 
person to whom Arthur Savage gave the ball which killed War- 
ren at Bunker Hill. The identity of tlais ball has been disputed 
10 



218 LANDMARKS OF BOSTON. 

by some of the martyr's descendants, on the grouiid that it was 
said to have In-eu taken from the body, Avhile Warren received 
his death from a Ijall in the liead. Tlie controversy was main- 
tained with cousi(h'rahle Avarnitli on both sides, the general 
opinion favoring tlie autlienticity of tlie fatal bnllet. Artliur 
Savage was an officer of the cnstoms in Boston, and his state- 
ment that ho tiink the piece of lead fiMni Warren's body is 
worthy of l)elief. Mv. JNEontagne is said to have been the 
first American Episcojial clergyman ordainetl in America who 
preached in an Englisli jiuljiit. The English officers billeted 
in this quarter of the town attended Christ Church. 

Tileston Street is the Love Lane of our ancestors, not from 
the Hymeneal Deity, — else we may believe it would have Ijeen 
the favorite resort of the JNTorth End damsels and their love- 
lorn swains. It was thus named from the Love fimily, who 
OAvned most of the street. ]\Irs. Susannah Love sold the ground 
on which the Eliot School was built, and the name of the lane 
was changed about 1820, for good olil IMaster d<_ilm Tileston of 
that school. JNLister Tileston presided over the school for two 
thirds of a century, and after he became superannuated liis salary 
was continued ; the only instance of the kind in the history of 
the town or city. lie lived at the westerly corner of IMargaret 
and Prince Streets. IMather Byles is said to have first seen the 
light in Tileston Street. 

The first CJrammar School in this part of the town was erected 
in Benuet Street in 1713, and was called the North Latin School. 
Recompense Wadsworth was the lirst master. A writing-school 
was built on the same lot, on Love Lane, in 1718 ; and in 1741, 
when an enumeration Avas made, this school had more pu})ils 
than all the others comluned. Up to 1800 there were but 
seven schools in th(! town, and only nine wlieu Boston became 
a city. Bennet Street was for some time distinguished as North 
Latin School Street. The old schools Averc knoAvn later as the 
North Grammar and North Writing, the subsequent name of 
Eliot being given to honor the memory of the pastors of the 
Old North Church. Since the city gOA'ermnent went into o])era- 
tion it seems to have passed into a custom to name the schools 



COrp'S HILL AND THE VICIXITY. 219 

for tlie mayors. The old scliool-hoiise stood by the side of the 
present one, and was tlie tliird in the town. Captain Thomas 
Hutchinson, father of the too-celebrated lieutenant-governor, 
built the house and gave it to the town. Three or four editices 
have succeeded the original, the present structure having been 
dedicated on Forefather's Day, 1859. Mather Byles, Edward 
Everett, and Dr. Jenks are among the distinguished pu^iils of 
the school. Edward Everett lived, in 1802, in Proctor's Lane, 
now the easterly part of Iiichmond Street, and in 1804 removed 
to Eichmond Street. His motlier afterwards removed to Xew- 
bury, now Washington Street, to a house nearly opposite the 
head of Essex Street. 

The modern school acquired some notoriety in 1859, from a 
rebellion of the Catholic pupils against the reading of the Ten 
Commandments, which caused no little excitement in the old 
I^ortli End. Various attempts have been made from time to 
time to prohibit the reading" of the Scriptures in the public 
schools, one of which gave rise to the following mot of liufus 
Choate : " What ! banish the Bible from schools ! N^ever, while 
there is a piece of riymouth liock left large enough to make a 
gun-flint of ! " 

At Prince Street we reach the old line of division between 
Salem Street proper and Back Street. The origin of Salem and 
Lynn Streets are obvious. Back Street Avas tlius distinguished 
from Fore, through which our readers liave folLjwed us in a 
former cha})ter. Prince, named from some scion of royalty, has 
outlived King and Queen. This street was originally from Han- 
over (jNIiddle) to the sea, but now reaches into North Sipiare, 
its easterly terminus. The portion between Salem and Hanover 
was anciently known as Black Horse Lane, from an old tavern 
on the corner of Back Street. This tavern, corrupted into 
Black-US-inn, was noted as a place of refuge and concealment 
for deserters from Burgoyne's army at Cambridge. It was of 
considerable antiquity, the lane being so called before 1700. 
The royal regulars had barracks on the corner of Prince and 
Salem Streets in 1775 -7G. 

Salem Church, at the corner of Is^orth Bonnet and Salem 



220 LANDMARKS OF BOSTON. 

Streets, was organized in 1827. Its formation Avas coeval with 
the church in Pine .Street, and the dedication occurred January 
1, 1828, at which time He v. Justin Edwards, I). D., was in- 
stalled. Dr. George W. Blagden, wlio lias recently resigned the 
pastorate of the Old South, was settled here. The building 
has a simple, substantial look, but may be classed with tliose 
of no special attractive features. 

Though we would fain linger in the old K^orth End, other 
sections claim our attention. In it the spirit of resistance to 
British tyranny was strongly developed, and it contained less 
of the tory element than some other quarters of the town. 
The sturdy mechanics of the JN^orth End were ever ready to act 
in the cause of liberty, no matter what the sacrihce might be. 
Many of her sons gained a noble reputation in the wars of tlie 
repul)Hc. There was that old sea-lion, John j\Ianly, who held tiie 
lirst na^'al commission issued by Washington, in 1775. He took, 
in the Lee, the dangerous cruisiug-ground of Boston Bay, and 
captured, in November, the British ordnance lirig JSTancy, a prize 
so imp(jrtant to the Continental army that tlie camps were Avild 
with joy. Among other pieces taken Avas a heavy brass mortar, 
which Old Put mounted Avith a bottle of rum in las hand, Avliile 
Milflin christened it the " Congress." The Lee made other im- 
portant captures; and in 177G J\Ianly Avas given command of 
the Hancock frigate, in Avliich he captured the Fox, British 
man-of-Avar, but Avas himself taken prisoner by the Eainbow, a 
much heavier vessel than ]iis own. He commanded afterwards 
the Jason and Hague, in both of Avhich he gave e\ddence tliat 
he Avas a worthy comrade of Paul Jones. Manly Av^as a bluff but 
indiscreet seaman, and for some irregularity Avas court-martialled. 
He died in 1793, at liis house in Charter Street. 

Anotlier naval licro, still more renowned, Avas Commodore 
Samuel Tucker of the old Continental navy, Avho lived in a 
three-story brick building on the north side of Fleet Street, 
wliere noAv stands a brick stable. 

His lirst cruise Avas in 177(t, Avith a commission signed by 
S.unucl Adaius in his pocket, and a pine-tree Hag at his peak, 
made by the hands of his wife. This intrepid sailor took from 



COPr'S HILL AND TIIH VICINITY. 221 

the enemy during the war sixty-two sail of vessels, more than 
six hundred cannon, and three thousand prisoners, and when 
at length compelled to surrender the old IJoston frigate, which 
ho then commanded, to the British scjuadrou at Charleston, he 
kept his flag flying untd Admiral Arbutlmot sent him a special 
order to lower it. Tucker's reply was, " I do not think much 
of striking my flag to your present force ; hut I have struck 
more of your flags than are now flying in this harbor." 

Commodore Tucker carried John Adams to Bordeaux in 1778, 
"through the six-and-twenty misfortunes of Harlequin." Dur- 
ing this voyage the ship was struck by lightning, and the Com- 
modore narrowly escaped death from the fragments of a falling 
spar. His services, which it is believed were unsurpassed by 
those of any of his comrades of the tild navy, met with tardy 
requital from the nation. According to his biograjdier, Mr. 
Sheppard, he retired in 1793 to a form in Bristdl, Maine. 
John Adams, in speaking of a visit from Tucker, says, " When 
I see or hear of or from one of these old Men, whether in 
civil, political, military, or naval service, my heart feels." 

The brave Lieutenant James Sigourney, who commanded the 
armed schooner Asp, and fell heroically lighting in an engage- 
ment with a British flotilla in Chesapeake Bay in 1812, — Cap- 
tain Samuel Iv^ewanan, lieutenant in Craft's Artillery in the early 
part of the Revolution ; serving in the navy under Nicholson in 
tlie Deane in 1782 ; killed in St. Clair's battle with the Miami 
Indians, — Colonel Josiah Snelling, fighting against the Indians 
and distinguished at Tippecanoe ; afterwards at York, Platts- 
burg, and other fields ; finally colonel of the 5th .United States 
infantry, and giving his name to Fort Snelling, — Colonel John 
JVIountfort, brevetted for gallantry at Plattsburg, and distin- 
guished in the Florida war, — Captain Samuel Armstrong, a sol- 
dier of 1812, — and Lieutenant Robert Keith, who served mider 
Macomb at Plattsburg ; all lived in the Xortli End. 

Next north of Christ Church was a large brick building, end 
to the street, occupied more than fifty years ago as a type and 
stereotype foundry ; a part of the site next the church Avas 
afterwards used for an academy. The north corner of Tileston, 



222 LANDMAltKS OF BOSTON. 

at its junction Avith Hanovor Street, was tlie liomc of Professor 
Henry J. Ivijilcy, of the Newt(jn Theological Institute. 

At the northerly corner of kSheafle and 8aleni Streets was the 
residence of Dr. Samuel Stilhnan, the well-known jmstor of the 
First Baptist Chiu'ch from 17G5 to his death in 1807. From 
him Stilhnan Street takes its name. He preached eloquently 
in the cause of liberty in his house of worship in the rear of 
iSalem, near Stilhnan Street. This church, once cowering under 
the lash of bigotry, seeking to hide itself in an obsciu'e corner 
of the town, is now translated to the highest eminence in the 
city, and to-\vers majestically over the neighboring steeples. 

The Fh'st Baptist Church, like the Episcopal, had to struggle 
against the determination of the magistrates, backed by a ma- 
jority of the peo})le, to permit no other church than their own 
to obtain a footlntld in their midst. A few individuals consti- 
tuted the chiu'ch in Charlostown in May, 1GG5, but were driven 
by persecution to a private dwelling on Xoddle's Island. They 
erected their church in Boston Avithout exciting the suspicion 
of the authorities, until its dedication in Februar}^ Kil'J. This 
act of contumacy Avas summarily dealt with. The church doors 
were nailed up, and the following notice posted upon them : — 

"All persons are to take notice, that by order of the court, the 
doors of this house are shut up, and that they are inhibited to hold 
any meeting, or to open the duors thereof, without hceiise I'rom au- 
thority, till the General Court take further order, as they will 
answer the contrary at their peril. 

"Dated at Boston 8th March 1G80, Edward Rawson Secretary." 

The first house Avas erected on the banks of the Mill Pond, 
on the north side of Stilhnan Street, between Salem and Pond 
(now Endicott) Streets. This house Avas replaced by a larger 
one, also of Avood, in 1771, and abandoned in 1829, Avhen the 
society took possession of the Ijrick l)uilding now standing at 
the coi'ner of Hanover and Union Streets. This Avas in turn 
vacated in 1858 for the edifice in Somerset Street. 

In Baldwin I'lace — since become the Home of Little "Wan- 
derers — is the house of the Second Baptist Church. This so- 
ciety organized in 17 -4 3, and held their first services at the house 



COPr'S HILL AND THE VICINITY. 223 

of James Bownd in SlicafFo Street, near Copi)'s Hill, removing 
later to Proctor's School-house, until ]\Iarch, 17-40, when they 
t(jok possession of their new building upon the spot lir.st men- 
tioned. The first house was of wood, and quite small, having 
near the head of the broad aisle a basin for baptismal purposes. 
It was superseded, in 1810, by the present brick structure. 

In Salem Street was the old printing-office of Zachariah 
Fowle, — first the master and then the partner of Isaiah Thomas, 
• — in which Avas printed the old Massachusetts Spy in 1770, 
until Thomas dissolved his connection Avitli Fowle and opened 
his office in School Street, near the Latin School, Thomas, 
whose i^aper Avas a high organ of liberty, Avas ordered to appear 
once before Governor Hutchinson for a publication reflecting on. 
the executive, but refused to go. He removed his types, press, 
etc., to Worcester a few days before the battle of Lexington. 
This Avas the origin of the Worcester S})y. Later he opened a 
bookstore at 45 Newbury Street, under the name of Thomas and 
Andrews, but did not reside in Boston. Oliver Ditson & Co. 
now occupy the spot. 

Many old buildings still remain in Salem, Prince, Charter, 
and the neighboring streets. Over the apothecary's door, at the 
corner of Salem and Prince Streets, is an anti(|ue head of ^Es- 
culapius, or some follower of the curative art, A\diich is the 
oldest sign noAV known in the Xorth End. INIany years ago it 
stood at the edge of the sidewalk affixed to a post, but, ob- 
structing the way, it Avas removed. This is believed to be the 
oldest apothecary's stand in Boston now used for that purpose, 
llobert Eennelly was the ancient dispenser of pills and purga- 
tives on this corner. 

In the slums of the North End originated the draft riot of 
1863. The officers Avho attempted to serve the notices in 
Prince Street Avere cruelly beaten, and the mob, gathering 
courage from its triumph OA'er a handful of police, reinforced 
from the purlieus of Endicott, CharlestoAvn, and neighboring 
streets, made an attempt to seize the cannon kept at the gun- 
house in Cooper Street, Avhich Avas held by a little l)and of 
regulars from Fort ^^'arren. The rioters had killed and Avounded 



224 LANDMARKS OF BOSTON. 

several of the garrison, and had nearly succeeded in demolish- 
ing the doors, when the guns were discharged into the mob with 
fatal efl'ect. After withstanding for a few moments the fusil- 
lade from the small arms of the soldiers, the crowd gave way, 
moving towards Dock Square, where they expected to secure a 
supply of weapons by breaking open the store of William IJeed 
and other dealers in arms in that vicinity. Eight of tlie rioters 
were known to have been killed, but those Avho fell were re- 
moved l)y their friends, and no authentic data can be given. 

Traces of this all'air may yet be seen in the dwelling opposite 
the gun-house, the brick walls of wliich were scarred by the 
discharge of grape at point-blank distance. 



THE OLD SOUTH AND PROVINCE HOUSE. 221 



CHAPTER VIII. 

THE OLD SOUTH AND PROVINCE HOUSE. 

Marlborough Street. — Governor Winthrop . — Old South. — Warren's Ora- 
tions. — Tea-Party Meeting. — British Occupation. — Phillis Wlieatley. — 
Spring Lane. — Heart and Crown. — Boston Evening Post. —Province 
House. ^ Samuel Shute. ^ William Biu-net. — William Shirley. — Thomas 
Pownall. — Francis Bernard. — General Gage. — Le,xington Expedition. — 
Sir William Howe. — Council of War. — Court Dress and Manners. — 
Governor Strong. — Blue Bell and Indian Queen. — •Lieutenant-Governor 
Cushing. — Josiah Quincy, Jr. — Mayor Quiucy. 

THAT part of Wasliiiigton Street lying between School and 
Summer Streets Avas, in 1708, named Marl])orongh Street, 
from the great duke whom Thackeray irreverently calls Jack 
Churchill, — the man of Blenheim, IfamiUies, Oudeiiardc, and 
^lalplaquet. The JNIarlboro Hotel still perpetuates the name. 

As we stand at the south corner of School Street at its union 
with Wa.shington, a collection of old buildings faces us extend- 
ing from the yard of the church nearly to Spring Lane. This, 
together with the church property, was a part of the estate of 
one of the greatest men among the early colonists, John Wiu- 
throp. The house of the first governor of this baiul of Puritans 
stood nearly opposite to us. It was of wood, the frame being 
removed from Cambridge, or Newtown as the early settlers then 
called it. This removal was the cause of a misunderstanding 
between the governor and the deputy, Dudley, but matters 
Avere accommodated to the content of both parties. In the 
Introduction some account is given of the character of Win- 
throp's habitation, which remained standing nearly a century and 
a half, imtil demolished by the British soldiery in 1775. So 
the roof that sheltered Winthrop went to light the mess-fires 
of his ISIajesty's troops, or to difiusc Avarmth tlirough the apart- 
ments of (Jage or Howe in the Province House. 

The life of Winthrop is the history of the Colony. It ap- 
10* ' o 



22G LANDiMAKKS OF BOSTON. 

l)eai's in connection with its affairs, or the Liographies of his 
contemporaries. Under his ruk'. chnrch and state were one ; 
and tlie idea of tolerating any Ixdief but their own was repug- 
nant to the practice, wliatever may have been tlie theory, of the 
then colonists. Winthrop was one of the hrst selectmen of 
Ijoston, and more than any other moulded its government. 
The remarkable alfair of Anne Hutchinson, in which so many 
persons of importance were partici])ants, shook to its centre the 
social and religious fabric Winthrop had assisted to raise, and 
left him at variance with Sir Henry Vane, next to himself the 
most considerable man in the infant colony. His rule was ii'on 
towards all wdio professed any but the orthodox faitl), until a 
short time before his death, wdien, it is said, he refused to sign 
an order for the banishment of some dissenting person, sayuig to 
Dudley that he had done too much of that work already. The 
l\'(piot war, liegun while Vane was governor, ended nnder 
AVinthrop. So far as the neighboring Indians were concerned, 
the governor maintained peace by a firm yet conciliatory policy. 
The chiefs were entertained at his tal)le, and greatly editied by 
the governer's domestic economy. Chicataubut refused to eat 
until his host said grace, and received at his departure a suit 
of tlie governor's clothes, in Avhich he strutted home to his 
wigwam with increased importance. 

According to tlie modern view, the governor did not favor 
popular government ; his opinion being that wisdom resided in 
the few. As a man he Avas less inflexible than as a magistrate, 
for it is related that he reclaimed a thief whom he detected 
stealing his wood in the following manner. " Friend," said the 
governor, "it is a very cold season, and I doidjt you are poorly 
provided Avitli wood; you are welcome to sujiply yourself at my 
})ile till the winter is over." The governor had four wives, and 
lost not only three of these, but six children. His death occurred 
on the 2C)th of March, 1649, at the age of sixty-one. He wvas 
entomlied in King's Chapel Ground, on the north side. One 
of his sons became governor of Connecticut, and shares his 
toudi ; a l)eautiful statue of AVinthrop, l»y Crcenougli, is in the 
cliapel at Mdunt Auburn. The goveninr left a journal <>f his 



THE OLD SOUTH AND PROVINCE HOUSE. 



227 



voyage from JCiiglaud, and of the proceedings in the colony np 
to his decease, which was editeil by James ►Savage. Home of 
the admirers of (Jovernor AVinthrop's character have declared 
liim worthy of canonization, had we like Kome a sacred cal- 
ender. 

Tlie Old South still stamls, one of the monuments of Old 
Boston. Its existence lias been often threatened, and erelong per- 
haps will be swej)t from its foundations, to appear in new and 
strange liabiliments in a 
remote part of the city. 
It is the richest church 
corporation in the city, 
and, next to Old Trinity 
of New York, in the 
country. The Winthrop 
estate passed through 
Thatcher and Mrs. Nor- 
ton to the church, and 
in consequence of its 
central location has ha- 
come of great value. Its 
parisliioners once dwelt Jf 
within sight of its stee- 
ple, but now few can be 
found within sound of 
its bell. INIilk Street, 
Franklin Street, Sum- 
mer and Winter, Brom- 
field and School, have 
hardly a residence left. 
Two of them at least 
were once filled with the abodes of the most respectable inhab- 
itants of the city, but commerce has said " Move on ! " and the 
the population has vanished bef ire it. 

Curiously enough, the Old Soutli, arising from a schism in 
the First Church, like it originated in Charlestown, wliere also 
was organized the First Baptist Society. Like the Baptists, 




THE OLD SOUTH. 



228 



LANDMARKS OF BOSTON. 



also, tins society was proclaimed against, but erected a house 
of worship, the third in Ijostoii. The theological disputes, 
questions of doctrine or church government in which this 
society originated, however interesting, cannot he given here. 
Thomas Tiiacher was the lirst minister, settled in February, 
1G70. The first house Avas of wood, and stood until 1729, 
when it was taken down to give })lace to the then new brick 
editice. In the front was i)laced, in 18G7, a tablet bearing the 
following inscri]»ti(»n, so that all who run may thus read a little 
of the history of the church : — 



OLD SOUTH. 

Church gathered 16C9. 

First House built 1670. 

This House erected, 1729. 

Desecrated by British TROors, 1775-0. 



This little memorial contains a succinct account of the cliurch 
even to the last line, " Desecrated by British Troops," which 
was strenuously objected to by many at the time the tablet was 
placed there. The occupation of churches by troops has been 
common in all wars, notably so in tlie late Eebellion. Such 
occupation has not been generally considered as calling for a 
new consecration, and the vise of the Avord " desecrated " is 'per- 
haps not fortunate, though the usage of this house was pecu- 
liary malicious and repugnant. The name " Old South " goes 
no further back than the building of the " Xew South," in 
Summer Street, in 1717. It was primarily the South Meeting- 
house, being then considered in the south part of the town. 
On a stone at the southwest corner of the church is sculp- 
tured, "N. E. (Newly Erected) March 31, 1729." 

The possession of the South ]\Ieetiug-house by Sir Edmund 
Au'lros has been stated in connection with King's Cliapel. 
From this church, in 1G88, was buried Lady Andros, wife of 
the arbitrary Knight. The governor's house was doubtless in 
the immediate vicinity of Cotton Hill, as from Judge Sewall's 
account of the funeral we learn that " the corpse was carried 



THE OLD SOUTH AND PROVINCE HOUSE. 229 

into the hearse drawn by six horses, the sokliors making a 
guard from tlie Governor's liouse down the Prison Liaie to 
tlie South Meeting House." The tondi of Lady Anne An- 
dros Avas identified by the care of a relative, wlio found a 
slab, with her name inscribed, while repairing her last resting- 
place. 

N"one of the city churches are so rich in historical associa- 
tions as this. Here Lovell, Church, Warren, and Hancock 
delivered their orations on the anniversaries of the Massacre. 
When Warren delivered his second address in March, 1775, 
an officer of the AYelsh Fusileers, Captain Chapman, held up to 
his view a number of pistol-bullets, at the same time exclaim- 
ing, " Fie ! tie ! " This was construed to be a cry of fire, and 
threw the house into confusion until quieted by William Coo- 
per, while Warren dropped a handkerchief over the officer's 
hand. ]\Iany other officers were present with the purpose, as 
was thought, to overawe the sjieaker. But Warren was not to 
be overawed. At the same time the 47th regiment, returning 
from parade, passed the Old South, when Colonel Ncsl)it, the 
commander caused the drums to beat with the view of drown- 
ing the orator's voice. 

A writer thus describes the events of that day : — 

" Tlie (la\' came and the weather was remarkably fine. The Old 
South Meeting-house was crowded at an early hour. The British 
officers occupied the aisles, the flight of steps to the pulpit, and 
several of them were within it. It is not precisely known whether 
this was accident or design. The orator with the assistance of his 
friends made his entrance at the window by a ladder. The officers, 
seeing his coolness and intrepidity, made way for him to advance 
and address the audience. An awful stillness preceded his exor- 
dium. Each man felt the palpitations of his own heart, and saw 
the pale but deterndned face of his neighbor. The speaker began 
his oration in a firm tone of voice, and proceeded with great energy 
and patlios. Warren and his friends were prepared to chastise con- 
tumely, prevent disgrace, and avenge an attempt at assassinatiuu." 

In the ohl church Benjamin Franklin was bajitizcil. In the 
new, was held the famous Tea- Party meeting, adjourned from 



230 LxVNDMARKS OF BOSTON". 

raiieuil Hall Lecaiise the crowd was too great to be contained 
there. It is believed tliat Samuel Adams had with others con- 
trived this assemblage to draw olF attention from their plans, 
already matured and waiting oidy the signal of execution. 
Certain it is that the INIohawks appeared precisely at the mo- 
ment when negotiation had failed to prevent the landing of the 
tea. At this meeting Avas made the lirst suggestion to disjiose 
of the tea in the way finally adopted. John Howe, who lived 
in Pond Street, now Betlford, said, " Who knows how tea will 
mingle with salt Avater 1 " The idea was received with great 
laughter and approval. It is from the same liowe that Eowe 
Street took its name. 

Governor Hutchinson was at this time at liis country-seat 
in INIilton, — afterwards occupied by Barney Smith, Esq., — ■ 
where he received a committee from the meeting, who made a 
final demand that the cargoes of tea should be sent away. The 
governor, however, refused to interfere in the matter. It is re- 
lated that he was afterwards informed that a mob was on its 
Avay to visit him, and that he left his house Avith his face half 
shaven, making the best of his way across the fields to a place 
vi safety. 

During the absence of the committee Josiah Quincy, Jr., 
made an elorpient speech. AVheu the deputation returned Avith 
tlieir inifavorable report, about sunset, the Indian yell Avas 
heard at the church door, and the band of disguised INIohaAvks 
since so famous in history, filled the street. The meeting 
broke up in confusion, notAvithstanding the efforts of Sam- 
uel Adams to detain the peo])le, Avho rushed forth into the 
street. The Indians, after their momentary pause, took their 
Avay through Milk Street directly to Griffin's, noAV Liverpool 
Wharf. 

The number of the simulated Indians has been variously 
estimated at from sixteen to eighty. Their disguise Avas ejected 
in a carpenter's shop, Avhere Joseph LoA^ering, a boy of twelve, 
held the candle for the masqueraders. They Avore paint and 
carried hatcliets. (Tuder their blankets Avere concealed many a 
laced and milled coat. " Depend upon it," says John Adams, 
" they Avere no ordinary Mohawks." 



THE OLD SOUTH AND TROVINCE HOUSE. 231 

The women of Boston were not behind the men in their op- 
position to the tea-duty ; many, doubtless, keenly felt the loss 
of tlieir flxvorite beverage. The ladies had their meetings, at 
which they resolved not to use the obnoxious herb. Here is 
tlie lament of one matron over her empty urn : — 

" Farewell tlie tea-board, with its gaudy equipage 
Of cups and saucers, cream-bucket, sugar-toi^gs, 
Tlie jiretty tea-chest, also, lately stored 
With Hyson, Congou, and best double fine. 
Full many a joyous moment have I sat by ye. 
Hearing the girls tattle, the old maids talk scandal. 
And the spruce coxcomb laugh at — maybe ^— uotLing. 
Tliough now detestable, 
Because I am taught (and I believe it true) 
Hs use will fasten slavish chains upun my country, 
To reign Triumphant in America." 

The occupation of the Old South by troops was at the in- 
stance of General John Eurgoyne. It was his regiment, the 
((fueen's Light Dragoons, that set up the riding-school in the 
House of God, overthrowing its sacred memorials, and transform- 
ing it into a circus. These brave troojiers never showed their 
colors outside the fortifications. The pulpit and pews were all 
removed and btirnt, and many hundred loads of gravel carted 
in and spread upon the floor. The east gallery was reserved 
for spectators of the feats of horsemanship, while a bar fitted 
up in t]ie first gallery oifered means of refreshment. " The 
beautiful carved pew of Deacon Hubbard, with the silken hang- 
ings, was taken down and carried to 's house by an officer 

and made a hog stye." '"'"' The south door was closed, and a leap- 
ing-bar placed for the horses. It has been stated that some of 
the valuable books and manuscripts of lie v. Thomas Prince 
went for fuel during the winter, as did also the adjoining par- 
sonage house, and the noble sycamore-trees that skirted the 
grass-plot in front. 

After the surrender of Burgoyne his array marched to Cam- 
bridge. General Heath, then commanding in Boston, invited 
Sir John to dine Avith him, and lie appeared in response to the 
invitation, bringing with hiiu PliUliixs and Biedesel. After dinner 

* Newell's Diary. Thacher's Military Journal. 



232 l.vxdmai;ks of boston. 

lUii'goyiie desired to go out of town by way of Cliarlestowii, and 
General Heath accompanied him to the ferry. The curiosity to 
see the jirisoners was very great, and the inhabitants crowded 
the streets, windows, and even the house-tops, to gratify it. As 
the procession was passing the Province House, General Eur- 
goyne observed to the other generals, " There is the former 
residence of the governor." Some one in the crowd who heard 
the remark said, in an audible voice, " And on the other side is 
the riding-school." 

A good anecdote is told of the hero of Portugal and Flauders 
while the prisoner of Gates. " In the height of jocular con- 
versation Burgoyno told the victor of Saratoga that he was 
more ht for a midwife tlian a general. 'Acknowledged,' said 
Gates, ' for I have delivered you of seven thousand men.' " 

Wliile tlie regulars held possession of the church, an incident 
occurred which frightened the more superstitious among them, 
so tliat it was dilhcidt to maintain a guard, as was the custom, 
at the church door. Among the troops were a good many 
Scotch Presbyterians, who were not a little fearful of retriliu- 
tive justice for their abuse of tlie place. Some one, knowing 
the Scotch belief in apparitions, appeared to the sentinel as 
the ghost of Dr. Sewall. The Scot yelled with affright to tlae 
guard stationed at the Province House, and was with difficulty 
pacilied. 

When D'Estaing's fleet lay in Boston harltor, in September, 
1778, the British fleet, of twenty sail, liovo in sight. It was 
discovered and tlie alarm given by Mr. Joliu Gutler from the 
steeple of the Old South. Admiral D'Estaing, who Avas on 
shore, immediately put off for the squadron, and the militia 
were ordered to the Castle and the worlds on Noddle's and 
George's Island, Dorchester Heights, etc., Init the enemy made 
no atteuipt. The same fleet afterwards made the descent on 
New Bedford and INIartha's Vineyard. 

The old cliurch has been considerably changed in its interior. 
It was one of the last to retain tlie s([uare pews, elevated pidpit, 
and sounding-board. The ujiper gallery Avas altered, a new 
organ oljtaineil, and the brush of modern art a]>plied to the 



THE OLD SOUTH AND PROVINCE HOUSE. 233 

ceilings ; oilierwisc the house reiuixins mvicli the same as "when 
erected. It had a narrow escape from destruction by fire many 
years ago, hut was saved by superhuman efforts on tlie part of 
Isaac Harris, the mast-maker, who ascended to the roof wliile 
it Avas on lire, and succeeded in extinguisliing the flames. For 
this brave act he received a silver pitcher. 

One of Dr. Sewall's flock was Pliillis Wheatley, a woman of 
coh)r and a slave. She was a pure African, brought to America 
in 170 1, and yet she possessed genius of a higli order. She 
was, in a great measure, self taught, never having received any 
school education, yet wrote admirable verses. Her poems were 
collected in a thin volume and published in London, and have 
also been reprinted in this country. One of her effusions, ad- 
dressed to Washington, may be found in Sparks's " Life of 
Washington " ; it brought an acknowledgment from the general, 
then at Cambridge, also printed therein. She accompanied the 
son of her master to London in 1773, Avhere she received great 
notice from the nobility, but soon returned to Boston, where 
slie contracted an unhappy marriage, and died not long after in 
utter destitution at her house in Court Street. The genuine- 
ness of her poems was attested by Governors Hutchinson, Han- 
cock, Bowdoin, her master AVheatley, and almost every clergy- 
man in Boston. The following extract is from her Hymn to 
the Evening : — 

" Filled with the praise of Him who gives the light. 
And draws tlie sable curtains of the niglit, 
Let placid sluniliers soothe each weary mind, 
At mom to wake, more heavenly, more refined ; 
So shall the labors of the day begin 
More pure, more g\iarded from the snares of sin. 
Night's leaden sceptre seals my drowsy eyes ; 
Tlien cease my song, till fair Aurora rise." 

We have spoken of the trees that of yore graced the green 
before the governor's house and church. A single horse-chestnut 
waves its scanty foliage behind the church on the ]\Iilk Street 
side. 

If you look closely at tlie masonry of the Old Soutli yon will 
notice that each comse is laid with the side and end of the 



234 LA^T)MAKKS OF BOSTON. 

l)rick alternating ; tliis is kn(J^yn as the Fleniisli Bond. Tho 
West Cliurch, Old Brattle Street, Park Street, and some others, 
have walls l)uilt in the same manner. Gawen Brown, of Bos- 
ton, made the first clock, esteemed the finest in America. The 
I'rince library was deposited in the tower. 

Spring Lane recalls the ancient S^ning-gate, the natural foun- 
tain at which Winthrop and Johnson stooped to quench their 
thirst, and from which, no doubt, Madam Winthrop and Anne 
Hutchinson filled their flagons for domestic use. The gentle- 
women may have paused here for friendly chat, if the rigor of 
the governor's opposition to the schismatic Anne did not forbid. 
The handmaid of Elder Thomas Oliver, Winthrop's next neigh- 
bor on the opposite corner of the Spring-gate, fetched lier pitcher, 
like another liebecca, from this well ; and grim Bichard Jirack- 
ett, the jailer, may have laid down his halberd to (p;aif a morn- 
ing draught. 

Water Street is also self-explanatory ; it descended the incline 
to the water at Oliver's Dock. We have described elsewhere 
the primitive aspect of the region from Congress Street to the 
harbor. A British barrack was in AN'^ater Street at the time of 
the Massacre. 

At the north corner of Washington and AVater Streets was 
the sign of the " Heart and Crown." It was the printing-office 
of Thomas Fleet in 1731. After his death, crowns being un- 
popular, the sign was changed to the " BiJjle and Heart." Fleet 
sold books, household goods, etc. In 1735 he began the publi- 
cation of the Boston Evening Post, a successor of the Weekly 
Behearsal, liegun in 1731. Here is one of the Post's advertise- 
ments ; it would look somewhat strangely in the columns of its 
modern namesake : — 

" To l)e sold by the printer of this paper, the very best Negro 
Wiunau in this Town, who has had the Siuall-Pox and the measles ; 
is as hearty as a Horse, as brisk as a Bird, and will work like a 
Beaver. Aug. 23d. 1742." 

Having taken in the surroundings of tlie church to the north, 
we may now set (,mr faces southward and visit in fancy the 
official residence of the royal deputies. 



THE OLD SOUTH AND PKOVINCE HOUSE. 



235 



Th(3 Province Ploiise Avas one of the last relics of the col- 
ony to disappear. It lias formed the theme of some pleasant 
fictions Ijy Hawthorne in " Twice-Told Tales," as well as a brief 
sketch of the edifice not founded in fancy. The liquid which 
mine host mixed for the novelist before he set about his re- 
searches has a smack of reality about it, and may have enlivened 
his picturesque description. 

This ancient abode of the royal governors was situated nearly 
opposite the head of Milk kStreet. The place is now sliut out 




PROMNCE HOVSE 



from the vision of the passer-by by a row of brick structures 
standing on Washington Street. Before the cre(;tion of any 
buildings to screen it from view, the Province House stood 
twenty or thirty paces back from old INIarlborough Street, Avitli 
a liandsome grass lawn in front, ornamented by two stately oak- 



236 LANDMARKS OF BOSTOX. 

trees, ^vllieh reared their verdant tops on citlier side the gate 
separating the gi-onnds from tlie highway, and cast a gratefvd 
shade over the approach to the mansion. At either end of the 
fence were porters' lodges, and the visitor passed over a paved 
walk to the building. Ample stables stood in tlie rear. 

The building itself Avas a three-story brick structure, sur- 
mounted by an octagonal cupola. Over all stood the bronze 
effigy of an Indian, — tlie chosen emblem of the cidony. This 
ligure, which served the purjiose of a vane, was of hammered cop- 
per ; it h;id glass eyes, and ajipeared in the act of fitting an arrow 
to its bow. It was the handiwork of Deacon Shem Drowne. 
A flight of near twenty massive red freestone steps conducted 
to the spacious entrance-hall, worthy the vice-regal dwellers 
within. A portico supported by wooden pillars was surmounted 
by a curiously wrought iron balustrade, into which was woven 
the date of erection and initials of the proprietor, Peter Sar- 
geant : — 

IG. r. S. 79. 

From this balcony the viceroys of the province were accus- 
tomed to harangue the people or read proclamations. The royal 
arms, richly carved and gilt, decorated tlie front ; the bricks 
were of Holland make. The interior was on a scale of princely 
magnificence, little corresponding to the general belief in the 
simplicity of the mode of living of the times. The homes of 
Faneuil, of Hutchinson, and of Frankland have shown that 
luxiuy had effc^cted an entrance into tlie habitations of the rich. 
The house of Peter Sargeant was a fit companion to the others 
cited. On tlie first floor an ample reception-room, panelled with 
rich wood and hung with tapestry, opened from the hall. This 
Avas the hall of audience of Shute, Burnet, Shirley, Pownall, 
Bernard, Gage, and, last of all, Sir William Howe. 

It is jjrobable that the first of the governors who occupied 
the Province House was Samuel Shute, an old soldier of IMarl- 
Ixirough, who had won distinction from his king on the bloody 
fields of Flanders. His administration of the affairs of the 
colony, which he governed from ITIG to 1723, was unfortunate. 
He came into conflict with the Legislature on (piestions of pre- 



THE OLD SOUTH AND TROVIXCE HOUSE. 



Zo/ 



%M^ 









rogative. The governor, almost stripped of liis authority, was 
obliged to seek a remedy at ccmrt, and though his poAvers were 
coiilirmed, he did not enjoy the fruits of the decision. 

It is perha})S not generally known that a paper currency of 
small denominations was issued in the colony as early as 1722. 
Specimens are here reproduced. They were printed on parch- 
ment, of the size given in the engravings, l^o other instance 
is remembered of the emission of such small sums in ])aper 
until we come down to the 
period of the Ifevolution. 
The whole am(.)unt authorized 
was only £ 500, and speci- 
mens are very rare. The cuts 
given here are exact fac-similes 
of the originals now in the 
possession of the Antiquarian 
Society. A very full account 
of early Massachusetts cur- 
rency may be found in the 
Proceedings of that society for 
18G6, from the pen of Nathaniel Paine, Esq. In the first years 
of tlie settlement wampum, brass farthings, and even musket- 
bullets, supplied a circulating medium. 

William Burnet was born in 1(5 88, at the Hague, The 
Prince of Orange, afterwards King William of England, stood 
godfather for him at the baptismal font. His father was 
the celebrated Bishop Burnet, author of the " History of tlie 
Eeformation in England." The elder Burnet, ftdling under the 
■^ ^l?i J^i ^i^ j\ displeasure of King James, re- 

fy^ — ^r ^^ =^^ fffi tired to the Continent, entered 
J/ (^ r^ 1 d. W ,, ■ f fi t] • f 

tiie service oi the Frince ot 

Orange, and accompanied him 
to England when William, ob- 
tained the throne of his father- 
in-law, the flying James. He 
Avas rewarded with the bishop- 
ric of SaHslniry, Avliile the son 




>^''f? 



"iUmi) Pence. 



t 



]dxoh\n(c of 
ti)ea3affacl)tr 

fett;5. June 1722. 



if 



"^^ 'm^ ^ 



238 



LANDMARKS OF BOSTON. 



rccoived sulxsequently fL'oiii the House of Hanover tlie gov- 
ernment uf ]S'ew Y(_irk, and afterwurds that of ^lassaclmsetts 
Colony. 

The new governor Avas received with enthusiasm on liis 
arrival. He was met at the (Jeorge Tavern, on the Xeck, liy 
the lieutenant-g(Jvernor, members of the Council, and Colonel 
Dudley's regiment. Tinder this escort, and followed hy a vast 
concourse of gentlemen on horseback, in coaches and chaises, 
he proceeded to the Court House, where his commission was 
read. Shouts of joy and salvos of artillery from the forts and 
Castle welcomed him to Boston. Mather Eyles Avas reatly with 
a laudatory composition : — 

" Wliile rising Shouts a general Joy proclaim, 
And ev'ry Tongue, Bin-net ! lisps tliy name ; 
To view thy face wliile crowding Armies run, 
Wliose waving Banners blaze against the Sun, 
And deep-mnuth'd Cannon, with a tlimnrring roar, 
Sound tliy comniissiou stretcli'd from Sliore to Shore." 

r>urnet lived but a short time to stem the tide of opposition 
to kingly authority, and died September 7, 1729. While he 

lived he maintained in 



proper state the dignity 
of his office. His negro 
valet, Andrew the Trum- 
peter, stood at the portal 
of the Province House, 
or drove his Excellency 
abroad in his coach. His 
menar/e was itnder the 
care of a competent house- 
keeper. Betty, the black 
laundress, liad the care 
of twenty pair and one 
of Holland sheets, with 
damask napkins, and 
store of linen to match. A goodly array of plate garnished the 
sideboard, and ancient Aveapons graced the walls. Hobby, the 



L.^Ax-'Obitire of tu 



-(v^jiKiiuditir^ of til P 







THE OLD SOUTH AND PROVINCE HOUSE. 239 

cook, presided over the cuisine ; and coach, chariot, and chaises 
stood ill the stables. He had a steward and a French tutor. 

Il^otwithstanding the governor direetetl liis funeral to take 
place in the most private manner, after the form of any Prot- 
estant church that might be nearest, the authorities would not 
have it so, and expended nearly £1,100 upon a showy pageant. 
The governor was a churchman and attended King's Cha2)el, 
but showed he had no religious bias in his instructions for his 
burial. Burnet was probably the first and last governor who 
died in the Pi'ovince House. 

William Shu-ley was the admitted cliief of the long roll of 
provincial governors. He lived at one 
time in King Street, but, after he became 
governor, Iniilt an elegant mansion in 
IJoxbury, afterwards occupied by Govern- 
or Eustis, and now, we believe, standing 
on Eustis Street, metamorphosed by mod- 
ern improvements. Shirley, no doubt, 
came to the Province H()use to transact 
official business, and at the sitting of the General Court. In 
the reception-room was, perhaps, matured that celebrated expe- 
dition, which resulted in the capture of Louisburg. All the 
measures relating to the enterprise were conducted with groat 
ability. Profound secrecy was maintained as to its object while 
under discussion l)y the General Court ; the Governor carried 
the measure by only a single vote. Volunteers flocked in from 
all quarters, and the town became a camp. Over two thousand 
men were raised. Sir William Pepperell, whom an English 
historian has contemptuously called a " Piscatarpiay trader," 
was given the command, and on the IGtli of June, 1745, the 
bulwark of French power in America was in the hands of the 
pro\dncial forces. 

Another measure of Governor Shirley deserves mention. Ten 
years before the passage of the Stamp Act by the English Par- 
liament, the Legislature of the colony had passed a similar act 
of their own, laying a tax on vellimi, parchment, and pul)lic 
papers for two years; newspapers Avere included at lirst, but 




240 



LANDMARKS OF BOSTON. 







soon exemiitcd. This shows that it was not the stamp tax to 
which our ancestors objected, but to its levy without their con- 
sent. Specimens are here given from documents of the time to 
Avhich the stamps Avere affixed. One of the cuts (the three penny 
stam})) is engraved from the original die used in the stamp-office. 
It is a short steel bar attached to the circular part, the impres- 
sion being made Ijy a blow from a hammer. This interesting 
souvenir of the times of Shirley is in the 
])(issession of Jeremiah Colburn, Es(p, uf 
Ddston, a well-known antiquarian. 

The ex}iatriation of the unfortunate 
French from Acadia took place while 



^ Shirley was governor, and jMassachusetts 
^ received about two huudred families. Tlio 
*'*^^^^^^'**^ terrific earthquake of 1 755 shook the town 
to its foundations, and filled the streets with the debris of ruinc^d 
houses, about fifteen hundred sustaining injury. Shirley Avas 
a man of letters, and Avrote a tragedy, be- 
sides the history of the Louisburg expe- 
dition. H(>, also lield a goverinuent in 
the Bahamas, and Avas made lieutenant- 
general. His son, AVilliam, Avas killed at 
the defeat of IJraddock. 

Thomas PoAvnall supersedeil dovcrnor 
Shirley, in 1757-58, as governor. He 
occupied tlie chair only tln'ee years. He made a popular and 
enliglitened chief magistrate, contrasting faA'oral)ly Avitli the 
dark, intriguing Lieutenant-Governor 
Hutchinson. The great and disastrous 
fire of ]\Iarch 20, 17G0, occurred before 

_ _ \l the dei)arture of the governor to assume 

W^vTT^ "" 7 ^n ' goA'ernment oi South L avohua ; also 

^MMIM^^^ the organization and refitting of the lan.l 
^S^^^^^V^ ''iii'l naval forces, under (Jencral Audicrst, 
""'^uuuww'^ for the reduction of Quebec and IMoutreal. 

GoA'ernor Pdwuall Avas a standi friend of the Culonies, even 
after hostilities commenced with the mother country. Xo in- 





THE OLD SOUTH AND TOOYINCE HOUSE. 241 

mate of the Province House was more respected or more 
regretted. Tlie governor made an excellent plan or picture of 
Boston fueni the Castle in 1737. 

Pownall, it is saitl, was a great ladies' man. He was rather 
short in stature, and inclined to be corpulent. It was the 
fasliion of that day for a gentleman to salute a lady when 
introduced to her. The governor was presented to a tall dame 
whom he requested to stoop to meet the oiFered courtesy. 
" No ! " says the lady, '• I will never stoop to any man, — not 
even to your Excellency." Pownall sprang iipon a chair, ex- 
claiming, " Then I will stoop to you, madam ! " and imprinted 
a loud smack \ipon the cheek of the haughty one. This, like 
many good old customs of our forefathers, has fallen into neg- 
lect. It was PoAvnall Avho induced the Legislature to erect a 
monument in Westminster Alihey to Lord Howe, who fell at 
Ticonderoga, and was much esteemed in Boston. Another was 
ordered to be erected to General Wolfe at the east end of the 
Town House, but Hutchinson prevented its being carried out. 

His successor, Francis Bernard, Avas received on his arrival 
from New Jersey with the usual pomp and ceremony, and 
escorted through the town to his residence at the Province 
House. During the period of Bernard's administration, from 
17G0 to 1769, the stormy events which caused the Colonies to 
throw off the yoke of Great Britain occurred. The Writs of 
Assistance, the Stamp Act, the introduction of troops, and the 
removal of the General Court to Cambridge, hea})ed odium 
upon his conduct of affairs. Volumes have been written upon 
the history of those nine years. So Bernard passed out from 
the shelter of the Province House with none to do him rev- 
erence. The king recalled him, and the province spurned him. 
The last crowned head in this colony was proclaimed by Ber- 
nard. He gave a valuable portion of his lil)rary to Harvard. 

It has been said of Bernard that he was only a focile iiistru- 
ment in the hands of Hutchinson. He was even called Hutch- 
inson's wheellxirrow, carrying the burdens imposed by his wily 
lieutenant. Bernard's character lias been descrilxnl as arl)icrary ; 
he was, however, upright, with correct principles and courteous 

11 V 



242 



LANDMARKS OF BOSTON. 




address. He built liini a fine summer residence at Jamaica 
Plain, afterwards occupied by Martin Brimmer. 

After the governor's departure for England, watch and ward 
was but ill kept at the Province House, or else his Ancient 
Hutchinson, now his successor, troubled himself but little about 
the goods and chattels of the baronet. The mansion was broken 
open, and among other articles stolen were three feather-beds, 
four i>air of blankets, ditto of sheets, 
all marked Avith his Excellency's ini- 
tials. The thief, besides this more 
bulky booty, stole a crown-piece of 
James II. and two German rix dol- 
lars. 

The next inmate of the Province 
House was Thomas Oag(^, Avho was 
expected to support the kingly pre- 
rogative liy force of arms. "We lirst 
found the general in (quarters in 
THE COLON V HEAL. Brattlc Strcct, and gave there an 

outline of his career while military governor. Ho occupied the 
Province House when appointed to the government in 1774, 
and the tread and challenge of a British grenadier resounded 
for the first time in the ancient halls. 

Here was held the council between Earl Percy and the gov- 
ernor relative to the expedition to Lexington, so mysteriously 
noised alu'oad, and wliich Gage declared he had imparted the 
knoAvledge of to only one other ; even Lieutenant-Colonel 
Smith, who was intrusted with the command, tlid not know his 
destination. As Percy was going to his quarters from this 
intei'view, he met a number of townspeople conversing near the 
Common. As he went towards them, one of them remarked, 
" The British troops have marched, but will miss their aim." 
"What aiml" asked the Earl. "The cannon at Concord," was 
the answer. Percy retrac('(I lii.s steps to the Province House, 
wherci his chief heard with surprise and mortilication the news 
that the movement was no longer a secret. He declared he had 
been betrayed. 



THE OLD SOUTH AND PROVINCE HOUSE. 243 

Tlie following explanation has been given of the manner in 
Avhich Gage's plans were thwarted. A groom at the Province 
House dropped into the stables, then opposite the Old South on 
]\IiUc Street, for a social chat with a stable-boy employed there. 
The news was asked of tlie British jockey, who, misconceiving 
tlic sentiments of his friend, replied, that he had overheard a 
conversation between Gage and other officers, and observed, 
" There will be hell to pay to-morrow." This v, as immediately 
carried to Paul Kevere, who enjoined silence on his informant, 
and added, " You are the third person who has brought me the 
same information." 

It was here, too, that the perfidy of Benjamin Church was 
discovered by Deacon Davis, a visitor to the general. Before 
this time he had been esteemed an ardent friend of the cause 
of liberty. His residence was at the south corner of AV^ashing- 
ton and Avon Streets. 

On the morning of the 17th of June, 177G, Gage called his 
officers together to attend a coun- 
cil of war. Howe, Clinton, Bur- /zL^ /f 
goyne, and Grant were present, /yy^^ , c/'^^'^''^^ 
It was an anxious consultation. ^y // 
Clinton and Grant proposed to 

land the troops at Charlestown Xeck under protection of the 
shi}is, and take the American works in reverse. Tliis plan, 
which would have probably resulted in the capture of the whole 
provincial force, was disapproved by Gage, who feared to place 
his men, in case of disaster, between the intrenched Americans 
and reinforcements from Cambridge. General Gage returned to 
England in Octc^ber, 1775. He married an American lady, and 
a niece of the general by this marriage was the wife of the late 
General William H. Sumner, of Jamaica Plain. Gage had 
served at Fontenay and CuUoden, and in Braddock's campaign. 
He is said to have borne an extraordinary personal resemlJance 
to Samuel Adams, the chief conspirator against his sway, but 
few can fail to mark in the portrait of the general the absence 
of that firmness and decision which is so conspicuous in that 
of the patriot. 



244 LANDMARKS OF BOSTON. 

Gage's well-known procLunatiou was thus humorously hit 

oir soon after its appearance : — 

"Tom Uage'.s Proclamation, 
Or lilusteriug Denuneiation, 
(Replete with Defamation, 
Aiul sjieedy Jugulation, 
Of the New England Nation), 
"Who shall his pious ways shuu. 

" Thus graciously the war I wage, 
As witnesseth my hand — 

Tom CxAge." 

Sir William Howe, as Gage's military successor, took up his 
quarters at the Province House, and occupied it during tlie 
winter of 1 775 - 70. As the siege had now begun, its position 
Avas centi-il and well adapted for communication with the 
works at the Xeck, or at Copi)'s Hill, from which it was altout 
ecpially distant. The " (Jovernour's House " now presented a 
husy scene, and so indeed did the neighhrn-hood. Tlie dragoons 
held jxissession of the Old South. The orderlies' horses stood 
hitched in front of the genend's (p;arters, and armed heel and 
sabre clattered u|) and down the broad staircase, bringing re- 
ports from the various outposts. 

Howe Avas a good soldier, l)ut not an enterjn-ising one. He had 
fought with AVolfe at (^)ui'liec as lieutenant-colonel, receiving 
the grade of major-general in 1772. During the siege he coolly 
gave the order to occupy or pull doAvn churches or dwellings as 
necessity dictated. He has been much execrated for setting 
lire to (Jharlestown, but the fire kept up from some of tlie 
houses justilied the act in a military Adew. Finally Howe 
effected the AvithdraAval of his army Avitliout loss from Boston, 
by making the safety of the toAvn a guaranty of his OAvn. His 
after cai'eer in America Avas measurably successful ; defeating 
AVa.shington at Long Island and Wlnte Plains, he took posses- 
sion of New York, Avhile the battles of Prandywine and Ger- 
mantown gave him Pldladdpliia. He Avas relieved l)y his old 
comrade Sir H. Clinton, and returned home in 1778, Avdien an 
official incpiiry Avas made into his conduct. HoAve's address 
to his troops before the battle of Punker Hill is a soldierly 
document. 



THE OLD SOUTH AND PROVINCE HOUSE. 245 

" Gentlemen, — I am very happy in liaving the honor of coni- 
nuindiiiLf so line a body of men ; I do not in the least doubt tiiat 
you will behave like EnL!,lishmen, and as becometh good soldiers. 

"If the enemy will not come from their intrenchments, we inust 
drive them out, at all events, otherwise the town of Boston will be 
set on fire by them. 

" I shall not desire one of you to go a step further than where I 
go myself at your head. 

" Kemember, gentlemen, we have no recourse to any resources if 
we lose Boston, Ijut to go on board oui" ships, which ^\•ill be very 
disagreeable to us all." 

There is every reason to believe Sir William's military duties 
(lid not prevent bis exercising a generous hospitality. The liall 
of audience has no doubt resounded with mirth and music 
when the general received. There were his royalist neighbors, 
the Mascarenes, Harrison Gray, the Boutineaus and Master 
Lovell, with many kindred spirits of tlie court party. There 
w^ere Clinton, Burgoyne, the noble Percy, and many more of 
the army and navy to grace the levees of theu' commander by 
their presence. The buzz of conversation ceases as Sir William 
leads out some beautiful tory for the stately minuet, an ex- 
ample speedily followed by his guests. Perhaps amid the 
strains of the Fusileer's band strikes in the deep diapason of 
the continental cannon. 

The coming of the troops into Boston made fonnidal)le 
innovations in the customs and dress oi tlic old founders. 
The sad-colored garments and high-crowned hats gave place to 
velvet coat, ruffles, and cocked hat. Gentlemen of condition 
Avore the small sAvord in full dress, with a gold-headed cane to 
■ set off the lace depending from their sleeves. A gentleman's 
ball dress Avas a Avliito coat, trimmed with silver basket but- 
tons, collar and button-holes crossed Avith silver lace. Or, a 
coat of blue or scarlet cloth trimmed Avith gold might serve a 
gallant of the period. His hair Avas craped and poAvdered. A 
satin embroidered Avaistcoat reaching beloAv the hips, with small 
clothes of the same material, gold or silver knee-bands, Avhite 
silk stockings, and high-heeled morocco shoes, Avith buckles of 
some precious metal, completed a truly elegant attire. 



246 LANDMARKS OF BOSTON. 

The ladies wore a sacque "with a long trail petticoat hand- 
somely trimmed. Satin shoes with paste or metal huckle con- 
fined delicate feet. The hair was cra2)ed and ornamented 
according to fancy, and profusely sprinkled with Avliite powder. 
The gown was set off to advantage by two or three tiers of 
ruffles. Such was court dress, and court etiquette prevailed. 
The manners were distinguished for stiiliiess and formality, 
relaxing a little under the inikience of the ballroom. The 
last (j[ueen's ball was held February 22, 1775. 

Oiu- reader will care little to know who originally owned the 
ground Avhereon stood the Province House. Peter Sargeant 
built it in tlie year 1G79, and the Provincial Legislature became 
its purchaser iu 1716. After the Ilevolution it was occupied 
by tlie Treasurer and otlier officers of the Commonwealth. 
When the building Avas reconstructed in 1851, old co})per coins 
of the reign of the Georges, and some even of as old date as 
1612, were taken from the floors and ceilings, where they had 
lain perdu since dropped Ijy a careless functionary, or perhaps 
from the breeches pocket of my Lord Howe. Ancientdook- 
ing bottles of Holland make were found too, suggestive of 
Schnapps and Dutch courage. Piu'net perchance may have 
inherited tlie weakness with his L)utch blood. 

After the adoption of the State Constitution it became a 
" Government House." The easterly half was occupied by the 
Governor and Council, Secretary of State and lieceiver-General. 
The other half A\'as the d-\velling of the Treasurer. The State 
was inclined to keep up the character of the Province House 
by making it the governor's official residence, and voted sums 
of money for the purpose. In 1796 the Commonwealtli, being 
then engaged in building the present State House, sold the Pro- 
vince House to John Peck, but it reverted back to the State in 
1799, Peck being unable to fulld his part of the contract. 

Governor Caleb Strong occui)ied it after his election in 1800. 
He had Ijeen active iu promoting the cause of the Pevolution, 
and took })art in all the prominent measures of organization of 
the body politic at its end. He was in the United States 
Senate in 1789-97. In 1812 he was a^ain elected governor, 



THE OLD SOUTH AND PROVINCE HOUSE. 247 

Being a strung Federalist, lie refused to answer the calls made 
n^jon hiin fur troops by the general governiuent, Lut took 
measures to protect the State from invasion. The old revolu- 
tionary works at South Boston were strengthened and manned, 
and a new one erected on Noddle's Island in 1814, which bore 
the governor's name. This conflict between State and Federal 
authority forms a curious chapter in the political history of 
the times. 

Governor Strong is described as a tall man, of moderate ful- 
ness ; of rather long visage, dark complexion, and blue eyes. 
He wore his hair loose combed over liis forehead, and slightly 
powdered. He had nothing of the polish of cities in his de- 
meanor, but a gentle complaisance and kindness. 

In 1811 the Massachusetts General Hospital was incorpo- 
rated and endowed by the State with the Province House. 
The trustees of the institution leased the estate, in 1817, to 
David Greenough for ninet^^-nine years, who, erecting the 
stores in its front, converted it to the uses of trade. It be- 
came a tavern, a hall of negro minstrelsy, and was finally 
destroyed by fire in October, 18G4. 

Some relics of this venerable and historic structure remain. 
The Indian came into the possession of Henry Greenough, Esq., 
of Cambridge, and was permitted to remain some time in the 
hands of the late Dr. J. C. Warren, of Park Street, but at his 
decease no traces of it could be discovered, much to the regret 
of its owner. Perhaps it is still in existence. The royal arms 
are in tlie possession of the Historical Society. Colonel Ben- 
jamin Perley Poore became the possessor of much of the cedar 
wajnscot and of the porch. The panelling he has devoted to 
the finish of a pre-Iievolutionary suite of rooms, while the porch 
forms the entrance to his garden at Indian Hill, West Newbury. 

The grand staircase doAvn which Hawthorne's ghostly pro- 
cession descended led to apartments devoted to domestic uses. 
The massive oaken timbers were memorials of the stanch and 
solid traits of the builders. Here Shute brooded and fumed ; 
here Burnet wrote and Bernard plotted ; and here Gage and 
Howe planned and schemed in vain. All have passed away. 



248 LAND^IARKS OF BOSTON. 

The Blue Bell aud Indian Queen tavern stood on eacli side 
of a })assage formerly leaiUng from "\^^^slling•ton 8treet to Haw- 
ley. IXathaniel Bisliop ke})t it in 1G73, Avhi(di entitles it to be 
ranked with the old ordinaries. The offi(-^erd from the Province 
House and Old tSouth often dropped in to take their cognac 
neat. The landlady, at this time, a stanch whig, had the re- 
pute of an aniazon. Some olhcers one day, exciting her ire by 
calling for brandy under the name of " Yankee blood," she 
seized a spit and drove them from her house. Zadock Pomeroy 
kept the inn in 1800. About 1820 the Washington Cort'ee 
House was erected in place of the Indian t^Uieen, but it, too, 
has vanished. It will \k' rememl)ered as the starting-] dace of 
the old Iioxl)ury Hourlies. ]S'o. 158 indicates the site, corre- 
sponding with the I'arker Block. 

Another Indian (j)ueeu was in Bromfield's Lane, since 8treet. 
Isaac Trask kept it, and alter him Naltby, his widow, until 
181 G. Simeon Boy den was next }>r(»})rietor ; Preston Shepard 
in 1823, afterwards of the Pearl Street House; and W. ]\lun- 
roo. This was the late Bromtield House, now occu})ied by a 
handsome granite l)lock styled the AVesleyan Association Build- 
ing. It was a great centre for stages Avhile they continued to 
run. The likeness of an Indian princess gave the name to okl 
and new tavern. 

The P>romtield House site becomes important as the birth- 
place of Thomas Gushing, lieutenant-governor luider Hancock 
and Bowdoin, friend and coworker in the patriot cause with 
Adams, Otis, and Warren. The Ihitish Ministry ascribed gTeat 
influence to Cushing. He Avas inember both of the Provincial 
and Continental Congresses, and commissary-geneiTil in 17*75. 
(Jovernor Cushing was a member of the Old South. He died 
in 1788, and was buried in the Granary Burying Ground. 

A lew paces from the site of the old Indian (^ueen, or, ac- 
cording to the present landmarks, 16G Washington Street, was 
the abode of the gifted Josiah (.^)uincy, Jr., and the birthplace 
of his son, Josiah, who is best known to B<>ston as tiie gre,at(^st 
of her chief magistrates. Uriah C'otting, Charles Bulhnch, and 
Josiah (^uincy are the triumvirate who, by waving their magi- 



THE OLD SOFTII AND PROVINCE HOUSE. 249 

clan's wand, cliauged Uoston from a straj^^gling provincial to^^'u 
into a metropolis. 

Josiali (^uincy, Jr., died at the early age of thirty-one, while 
returning from a voyage to England, undertaken ])artly for the 
l)enelit of his health. He was constitutionally delicate, and his 
mental strength far exceeded his physical. He was chosen, with 
John Adams, by Captain Preston, to defend him on his trial 
for the Massacre in King Street, and did defend him with all 
his aliiUty, notwithstanding his own father warmly opposed his 
luidertaking it. Mr. C^uincy was possessed of high oratorical 
powers. The phlegmatic John Adams named him the Boston 
Cicero ; his political writings, begun in the Boston CJazette of 
October, 17G7, are full of lire and patriotic fervor. When in 
England he was, Avith Franklin, singled out for a brutal allusion 
by Lord Hillsborough, who declared they " ought to be in 
Newgate or at Tyburn." His strength proved ime(pial to the 
voyage, and he breathed his last witliin sight of his native land 
only a few days after the 1)attle of Lexington. 

" Ask yo what thoughts 
Convulsed hh soul, wlicn his duar native shores, 
Tlu'onged with tlie imagery of lost delight, 
Gleamed on his darkening eye, while the Iioarse wave 
Uttered his death dirge, and no hand of love 
Might yield its tender trembling ministry ? " 

Josiah Quincy, Jr. is said to have been the first Boston 
laAvyer who put up a sign-board over his door. 

Josiah Quincy succeeded Mr. Phillips as mayor in 1823, over 
his competitor Otis. "VVe have paid a tril)ute to his forecast and 
enterprise already. To him is due the establishment of Houses 
of Lidustry and Reformation. Commercial Street completed 
his transformation of the Town Dock region. Under him tlic 
Fire Department Avas founded in 1827. After a long and useful 
public service in city. State, and national councils, Mr. Quincy 
took the presidency of Harvard L^niversity in 1829, where he 
continued in office until 1845. 

At the annual festival of the })ublic schools of Boston in 
Faneuil Hall, August, 1826, and on completion of the granite 
market-house, Judge Story, being present, volunteered the fol- 



250 L.\JS^DMArtKS OF BOSTON. 

lowing sentinieut, — " May the fame of our honored mayor 
prove as durable as the material of which the beautiful market- 
house is construeted." On which, C[uick as light, the may<jr 
respoiuh'(l, " That stupendous monument of tlie wisdom of our 
forefathers, the SujU'eme Court of tlie United States ; in tlie 
event of a vacancy, may it be raised one story liigher." '■' Tliis 
pun has also been attributed to Edward Everett. 

l>enjamin Hichborn, another llevolutionary patriot, next oc- 
cupied the premises made vacant by the C^uincys. He was a 
graduate of Harvard, and an eminent member of the Sutfolk 
bar. Eor his zeal in his country's cause he was imprisoned on 
board a British vessel, the Preston, lying in Boston harbor. 
]\Ir. Hichborn Avas a Jeffersouian Democrat. He was colonel 
of the Cadets in 1778, and marched at their head into Bhode 
Island. In the year following he had the misfortune to be 
connected with an unfortunate accident which caused the death 
of his friend, Benjamin Andrews. The gentlemen were exam- 
ining some pistols, JNIrs. Audre"\vs being present. One of the 
weapons, incautiously handled, was discliargcd, taking effect in 
Mr. Andrews's head, causing death in a few minutes. 

* Quincy's Life, 



FliOM THE OLD SOUTH HOUND FOKT HILL. 251 



CHAPTEIl IX. 

FROM THE OLD SOUTH KOUXD FORT HILL. 

Birthplace of Franklin. — James Boiitineau. — Bowdoin Block. — Hawley 
Street. — Devonshire and Franklin Streets. — Joseph Barrell. — The Ton- 
tine. — Boston Lil)rary. — Cathedral of the Holy Cross. — Bishop Cheve- 
rus. — Federal Street Theatre. — Some Account of Early Theatricals iu 
Boston. — Keau, Finn, JVIacready, etc. — John Howard Paine. — Federal 
Street Church. — The Federal Convention. — Madam Scott. — Robert 
Treat Paine. — Thomas Paine. — Congress Street. — Quaker Church and 
Bury ing-G round. — Sketch of the Society of Friends in Boston. — Mer- 
chants' Hall. — Governor Shirley's Funeral. — Fire of 1700. — Pearl Street. 
— The Ropevv^alks. — The Grays. — Conflicts between the Rope-Makers 
and the Regulars. — Pearl Street House. — Spurzheini. — Washington Alls- 
ton. — Theophilus Parsons. — T. H. Perkins. — Governor Oliver. — Quincy 
Mansion. — Governor Gore. — Liverpool Wharf. — Tea Party and Incidents 
of. — The Sconce. — Governor Audros Deposed. — Sun Tavern. — Fort 
Hill. 

WE enter on Milk Street, the ancient Fort Street, con- 
ducting from tlie governor's house to the Sconce, or 
South Battery, — a route we now propose to follow. 

Before we come to Hawley Street Ave see a granite edifice 
with " Birthplace of Franklin " standing out in bold relief 
from the pediment. iS^o new light has been shed upon this 
interesting question since we left the Blue Ball. It is enough 
that we honor the philosopher's name in many public places, — ■ 
no locality may claim him. Apropos of Franklin, when he 
was at the court of his most Christian ]\Iajesty, he soon became 
the rage, not only of court circles, l>ut of the capital. Presents 
flowed in upon him, which he, with ready tact, contrived to 
share "with his fellow-commissioners, so as to avoid the appear- 
ance of invidious distinction. Among other things, there came 
to his lodgings a superb gift of fruits, labelled " Le digne Fraidc- 
lin." " This time," said Silas Deane, " yuu cannot pretend this 
is not for you alone." " Kot so," said FraiJvlin ; " the French- 



252 



LxlNDMAPvKS OF BOSTOX. 




men cannot master our American names ; it is, plainly, Lee, 
Deane, Franklin, that is meant." 

Arthur Lee, i'ranklin's fellow-commissioner, com[)Osed eight 

lines of the famous Liljerty 
Song of John Dickinson, 
which the latter sent James 
Otis, upon news that the 
Legislature of Massachu- 
setts refused to rescind the 
resolve to send a circular 
letter calling a convention 
of the sister colonies to 
oppose taxation without 
reiiresentation. It Avas 
])rinted in the Pennsyl- 
^ vania C'hronicle, July 4, 
^^ _ 17G8, and is the earliest 

-^s^:^s-^-'=:^^:i^-~^ of the Eevolutionary lyrics 
franklin's birthplace. that boldly speaks of in- 

dependence and union. 

''Then join liand in hand, hrave Americans all ; 
By uniting we stand, liy dividing we i'all ; 
In so righteous a cause let us lioiae to succeed, 
For Heaven approves of each generous deed. 

Our purses are ready, — 

Steady, friends, steady, — • 

Not as slaves, l)ut as freemen, our money we'll give." 

Tlie olil house here re|)resented is a quaint specimen of the 
old order of l)uildings. It was bunit December 29, 1810, 
shortly after a drawing had been secured. Old Josiah Frank- 
lin, the father of I>enjamin, Avas a native of England, and by 
trade a silk-dyer ; he became a respectable soa})-])oiler and 
talli)w-clia.ndler in Boston. Benjamin was born on the Gth 
of January, ITOG, and is u]ii)n the church records as having 
received baptism the same day. T^pon this is founded the 
claim of the old house to lie tlie place of his nativity. The 
sign of the statue (»f Faust, displayed l)y tin* [H'esent occupants 
of the Birthplace of Franklin, is the same used by Thomas 



FROM THE OLD SOUTH ROUND FORT HILL. 256 

and Andrews in years gone by at tlie old stand in Nmvbnry 
Street. 

Opposite to us, and just below, is tlie " Old South Block," 
built upon the site of the parsonage in 1845. Next below 
is Sewall Block, Avhich covers the site of the mansion of James 
Boutineau, a royalist, who dejiarted from Boston in the train 
of Howe. Boutineau married Peter Faneuil's sister, Susannah, 
and was, like Faneuil, descended from the French Huguenots. 
He was a lawyer and managed the case of his son-in-law, Eob- 
inson, — the same who assaulted James Otis ; his house, a brick 
mansion, stood a little removed from the street, with the usual 
flagged walk, shaded by trees, leading up to it. 

" Bowdoin Block " has a noteworthy record. It stands at 
the east corner of Hawley Street, once known as Bishojj's Alley, 
probably from Bishoi) of the Blue Bell, and also as Boarded 
Alley, — from its having been boarded over at onetime, — a 
name our readers will see reproduced in a lane leading from 
Hanover Street to North. On the corner of the alley, Seth 
Adams once carried on printing ; his son was the first post- 
rider to Hartford, and rode hard to carry the post in four days. 
In this same Boarded Alley was established the first theatre in 
Boston, of which more hereafter. 

Morton Place was named at the request of Thomas Ivilby 
Jones, whose wife was a INIorton, and not for Governor INIorton, 
as has been supposed. It was here Payne, father of John How- 
ard, kept a school, before Morton Place was constructed. 

( )n the site of Bowdoin Block was another old-time mansion, 
Avhich belonged at one time to James Bowdoin, son of the 
governor, minister to Madrid in 1808. He was once a merchant 
in State Street, occupying a row of three stores with John 
Cotfin Jones and Thomas Russell. He was a man of higlil}^ 
cultivated intellectual tastes, but of slender hal)it. He idled 
many offices within the State before his appointment to the 
court of Madrid. James Bowdoin was a munificent patron of 
Bowdoin (Jollege, to which he gave lands, money, and his valu- 
able library and philosophical apparatus collected abroad. His 
widow, also liis cousin, married General Henry Dearborn, and 



'254 LANDMARKS OF BOSTON. 

both resided there until their decease. Tliis liouse Avas also the 
Lirthplace of the Hon. R. C. Wiiithrop ; it became afterwards 
a hotel called the Mansion House. 

Devonshire Street has swallowed up the old Theatre Alley, 
which conducted by a narrow and by no means straight way 
to Franklin Street, l:)y the rear of the old Boston Theatre, — 
hence its name. Besides Pudding Lane, a name borrowed from 
old London, Devonshire Street, meaning that })art lying north 
of Milk Street, has been known as Jolliti'e's Lane. Where the 
new Post-Office is Avas once an old inn called the Stackpole 
House, first the mansion of William Stackpole, and afterwards 
kept as a tavern by liouillard of the Julien. It Avas a large 
brick building, — end to the street Avitli court-yard in front. 

Previous to the year 1792 all the lower part of Fraidvlin 
Street Avas a (piagmire. No greater change has takt'U place 
in Boston than the conversion of this sAvamp into useful, solid 
ground. Jose})h Barrell, Esq., Avhose estate Avas on Summer 
Street, first drained the slough for a garden, in Avhich he had 
built a fish-pond, ami)ly stocked Avitli gold-fish. Where the 
old Boston Theatre stood Avas a large distillery, and l)ehind it 
a pasture extending between Suinmer and Milk Streets as far 
as HaAvley Street. 

This Joseph Barrell, Avdiosc handsome grounds and mansion 
became afterAvards the property of ]jenjamin Bussey, Avas a 
pioneer in the uortliAvest coast trade, Avhich opened such a 
magnificent lield to American conmierce. He Avith others 
fitted out the first Boston A'essels A\diich doubled Cape Horn. 
They Avere the C'()lunil)i!i, (Ja})tain Keudrick, and Washington, 
Captain (!ray. The cap)tains exchanged A'essels at sea, and the 
Colund)ia's Avas the first keel that passed the bar of the great 
river, Avhich noAV bears the name of Captain Gray's A'essel, the 
t'oluml)ia. 

The improvement Avas carried out by Charles P)ulfincli, Wil- 
liam Scollay, and Charles Vaughan. The Legislature refused 
to incDrjtorate the ])rojectors on the Tontine plan, but the im- 
provement was afterwards carried successfully through, Avith 
some modification. A l>lock of sixteen handsome buih lings, 



FROM THE OLD SOUTH ROUND FORT HILL. 255 

designed for dwellings, was erected in 1793, and called tlie 
" Crescent," or " Tontine." It lias been mentioned that this 
was the first block of buildings erected in Boston. The name 
" Tontine " signified an association for building purposes on the 
annuity plan, as practised in Europe. A large arch penetrated 
the block, flanked by Iniildings on either side, standing a little 
in advance of the rest ; these were ornamented with pilasters 
and balustrade. The opposite side of the street was called 
Franklin Place. In the middle of the street was an enclosed 
grass-plot three hundred feet long, containing a monumental 
lu'n to the memory of Franklin, then recently deceased. This 
central strip, oval in form, has, like the Tontine-Crescent, passed 
from view ; the original conveyance prolxibits the erection of 
buildings upon it. 

The rooms over the arch were occupied by the Historical 
Society and by the Boston Library. Tliis latter was incor- 
porated in 1794, and was designed to be somewhat more pop- 
vdar in its character than either the Athentcum or Historical 
Society. It grew steadily in public favor, and by the reversion 
of its shares to the corporation at the death of the shareholder 
a handsome fund was in time obtained. The Library sold its 
])roperty, which rested upon no foundation, — the arch ex- 
cepted, — and removed first to Essex Street, and finally to the 
building remodelled for them in Boylston Place. These peculiar 
tenures of houses without land are uncommon in this country, 
but are said to be quite usual in Scotland, where sej)arate 
stages or flats of the same building are owned by diiferent 
proprietors. 

Looking south across Franklin Street, we see a noble pile 
with the name of Cathedral Buildings on its lofty front. This 
is, or was, consecrated ground, and supported the weight 
of the Church of the Holy Cross, until traffic swept it from 
the street. A brief notice of the origin of the Pomish wor- 
ship in Boston has been given. This church was erected, in 
1803, by the eftbrts of Pev. Father Matignon, who came to 
Boston in 1792, and of John Cheverus, afterwards Bishop of 
the diocese, — since of IMontauban, France, — who followed him 



256 LANDMARKS OF EOSTOX. 

in 179G. Tlie Protestants gencroxisly contributeil to l)uild an 
ecUtice their fathers would not liavc for a nionuait tdlerated. It 
was consecrated l)y ] Ushop Carroll of Baltimore when coiu|)leted. 
The greatly enhanced value of the ground led to its demoli- 
tion some years ago ; a massive and lofty temple is now rearing 
its huge hulk on the Neck, mainly founded on the price of the 
Franklin Street C'atliedral. Beside the church, the Catholics 
erected a l:)\iilding which was used as a convent of Ursulines. 
Boston was constituted into a see in 1810 which included all 
the N(!W England States. A curious jiarallel might he drawn 
in the occupation of the house of the French Huguenots, who 
fled from Catholic persecution, by a congregation of that faith. 

Bishop Cheverus, afterwards a Cardinal, was sincerely he- 
loved in Boston by Protestants and Catholics alike. (.)tis and 
Quincy wxa-e his friends. He took a deep interest in the heated 
controversy that ensued over the treaty negotiated with Creat 
Britain by Washington, known as Jay's Treaty. 

On this rpiestion Harrison (Jray Otis came before the people 
of Boston for the first time in a public speech, and the good 
Bishop wr,s so charmed Avitli the l)rilliant oratory of the speaker, 
that he tlu'ew his ai'ius around JNIr. Otis, and exclaimed, while 
the tears ran down his lace, " Future generations, young man, 
will rise np and call thee blessed." 

The Federal Street was the hrst regular theatre estal)lished 
in P>oston. It was oi)encd February 3, 1794-, with the tragedy 
of Custavus Yasa. Thomas Paine, the same who afterwards 
changed his name to Pobert Treat, because he Avanted a Chris- 
tian name, Avrote tlie jirologue, having been adjudged the prize 
against a num1)er of competitors. Charles Stuart PoAvell was 
the first manager. Tlic theatre Avas also called the Old Drury, 
after Drury Lane, Boiidon. In 1798, while under the manage- 
ment of Barrett and Har})er, the house Avas destroyed by fire, 
leaving only the Inick walls standing. Tlie theatre Avas soon 
rebuilt and opened in ( )ctober, 1798, under the management 
of jMr. Hodgkinson, Avith " Wives as they Were." INfr. George 
L. Barrett conducted Ihe next season, and in the folh)Aving 
yeai', 1800, the celebrated ]\frs. Jones ajtpeared. Mr. Dickson 



FROM THE OLD SOUTH KOUND FORT HILL. 



257 



was a favorite actor at this liouse until liis retirement from tlio 
stage in 1817. In tliis year the managers were Powell, Dick- 
son, and Duff, and under their auspices Ecbuund Kean first 
performed in Boston. He met with a favorable reception, and 




BOSTON THEATRE AND FRANKLIN STREET. 



departed with a full purse and high opinion of Boston, which 
he pronounced " the Literary Emporiiun of the Western 
World." 

In 1825 Kean renewed his visit to America, but the Bos- 
tonians, offended at his supercilious conduct on the occasion of 
Ids second engagement, when he refused to play to a thin 
house, would not alloAV him to utter a word, and he was finally 
driven from the stage by a sliower of projectiles. Henry J. 
Finn, then one of the managers, vainly endeavored to obtain a 
hearing for the tragedian, Avho stood before the audience in the 
most submissive attitude, while his countenance was a picture 
of rage and humiliation. A riotous crowd from the outside 
forced their way into the house and destroyed what they cordd 
of the interior. The discomfited Kean sought safety in flight. 

Finn was one of the best eccentric comedians Boston has 
ever known. Besides being an actor, he was a clever minia- 
ture painter. He first appeared at the Boston Theatre October 
22, 1822, and perished in the ill-fated Lexington lost in Long 

Q 



258 land:\iarks of boston. 

Island Sound, January 13, 1840. Finn usually announced his 
lienelits with some "witty morceau like this : — 

" Like a grate full of coals I bum, 
A great full house to see ; 
And if I prove not grateful too, 
A great fool I shall be." 

Kean, notwithstanding his ^fiasco in Boston, was possessed 
of generous impulses, of which many anecdotes are related in 
illustration. The scene on the night of his retirement from 
the stage, when he appeared as Othello, at Covent Garden, as- 
sisted by his son Charles as lago, is an ever-memorahle event 
in the annals of the stage. Broken down hy emotion and 
physical inlirmity, the actor had to he home from the theatre by 
his son to a neighboring house. He survived but a few weeks. 

Edmund Kean was noted for the abuse of liis powers by in- 
dulgence in the social glass. He had a weakness to be thought 
a classical scholar, and would cpiote scrajts of Latin common- 
places. One evening, while deep in a nocturnal orgie, his secre- 
tary, E. Phillips, tired of waiting for him, sent a servant to 
rej^ort the situation at two in the morning. 

Phillips. AVhat 's Mr. Kean doing now ? 

Waiter. INIakiiig a speech about Shakespeare. 

PhillijJS. He 's getting drunk, yoii lia<l better order the carriage. 

(Half past two.) 

Ph illip.'i. What 's he at now ? 

JVaiter. He's talking Latin, sir. 

Phillips. Then he is drunk. I must get him away. 

IN Irs. Susanna Bowson, the gifted authoress of " Cliarlotte 
Temple," appeared at the Federal Street Theatre in Septend)er, 
179G. In INIarch of the year following her play of " Americans 
in England " was brought out at this house, and received with 
great favor. INIrs. Bowson soon sought a more congenial em- 
plo}^nent, opening in the early part of 1797 a school for young 
ladies in Federal Street with a single pupil. Her facile pen 
was equally ready in prose or verse, the latter covering a wide 
range from deep pathos to stirring martial odes. 

Mrs. Bowson's remarkable force of character enabled her to 



FROM THE OLD SOUTH KOUND FORT HILL. 259 

rise superior to the deep-seated prejudice against novel-writers 
and actresses, — she was both, — and to command not only the 
respect, hut the patronage at last of many wlio would have 
looked upon an association with her at one time as contaminating. 

Macready made his tirst appearance before a Boston audience 
at this theatre in the character of Virginius ; and Boston was 
also his place of refuge after the lamentable Astor Place liiot, 
in New York. John Howard Payne also acted here. About 
1833 the house was closed as a theatre, and leased to the 
society of Pree Inquirers. In 1834 the " Academy of Music," 
an institution for the culture of vocal and instrumental niusic, 
obtained possession. Mr. Lowell ]\Iason conducted the Acad- 
emy, and the name of the theatre was now changed to the 
" Odeon." Religious services were held on Simdays by Eev. 
William M. Rogers's society until the building of their church 
on Winter Street. The stage was again cleared for theatrical 
performances in 184G-47, mider a lease to Mr. C. R. Thorne. 
Lafayette visited the Boston Theatre on the last evening of 
his stay in 1824. An entire new front was erected on Pederal 
Street in 1826, and an elegant saloon added with many interior 
improvements. About 1852 the theatre proi)erty was sold, and 
the present business structure erected on its site at the north- 
east corner of Franklin and Federal Streets. 

Cliarles BiUfinch was the architect of the Boston Theatre. 
It was built of brick, was one hundred and forty feet long, 
sixty-one feet wide, and forty feet high. An arcade projected 
from the front, serving as a carriage entrance. The house had 
the appearance of two stories ; both the upper and lower were 
arched, with scjuare windows, those of the second stage being 
the most lofty. Corinthian pilasters and columns decorated 
front and rear. Several independent outlets aiforded ready 
egress. The main entrance Avas in front, where, alighting under 
cover from their carriages, the company passed through an open 
saloon to two staircases leading to corridors at the back of the 
boxes. The pit and gallery were entered from the sides. 

The interior Avas circular in form, the ceiling being composed 
of elliptic arches resting on Corinthian columns. There were 



2G0 LANDMARKS OF BOSTON". 

two roAvs of boxes, the second suspended hj invisible means. 
The stage was Hanked l)y two cohimns, and across the opening 
were thrown a cornice and Ijahistrade ; over this were painted 
the anus ut' the United Htates and of Massachusetts, blended 
with histrionic emblems. From the arms depended the motto, 
"All the World 's a Stage." The walls were jjainted azure, and 
the coliunns, front of the boxes, etc., straw and lilac color ; the 
balustrades, mouldings, etc., Avere gilt, and the second tier of 
boxes were hung with crimson silk. There was also a beautiful 
and spacious l)alh'()om at the east end, handsomely decorated, 
with smidl retiring-rooms. A ad sine, well furnished, wiis be- 
neath. (Such was the first })laydi(>use Boston ever had. 
Cast on the opening night of the Boston I'heatre : — 

NEW THEATRE 

Will open on Monday next, Feliniavy 3d, 

Witli the truly Rei^ublican Tragedy, 

GUSTAVUS VASA, 

TUn DULIVEKER (H'" HIS C'UUNTIIY. 

All the characters (heing the first time they were ever jierl'orined by the jiresent 
company) will be personated by Messrs. Baker, Jones, Clollius, Nel- 
son, Bartlett, Powell, S. Powell, and Keiniy ; Miss Harrison, 
Mrs. Jones, Mrs. Baker, and the Child by Miss Cor- 
nelia Powell, being her first appearance on 
any Stage. To which will be a<lded 
an Entertainment called 

MODERN ANTIQUES; 
or, 

THE MERRY MOURNERS. 

Mr. and Mrs. Coekletop by Mr. Jones and Miss Baker. The other characters 

by Messrs. S. Powell, Collins, Nelson, Baker, etc., Mrs. 

Jones, Mrs. Baker, and Mrs. Collins. 

The history of the Boston stage is instructive, as showing the 
gradual development of a change of feeling in regard to the 
establishment of theatres. The earliest attempt at such exhi- 
bitions was a i)erformauce at the British Coifee House of 
Otway's <_)ri)lian, in 1750, followed by a law forbidding them 
under severe penalties. The Ih-itish officers had their theatre, 
in 1775, in Faneuil Hall, where they produced the "Blockade 
of Boston," by General Burgoyne, " Zara," and other pieces. 



FROM THE OLD SOUTH EOUND FORT HILL. 2G1 

In 1792 a company of comedians from London, chief among 
Avliom was Charles Powell, htted up a stable in IJoard Alley 
(Hawley Street) into a theatre. Governor Hancock was highly 
incensed at this infraction of the laws, and made it the sultject 
of special comment in his message to the Legislature. The 
representations were conducted under the name of " ]\Ioral 
Lectures," but were brought to a summary conclusion by tlie 
appearance of Shei'iff Allen on the stage, who arrested one of 
the performers as lie stood in the guise of the Crooked Back 
Tyrant. The audience sympathized witlr the actors, and amid 
great excitement, in wliich Hancock's portrait was torn from 
the stage-box and trampled under foot, the play ingloriously 
ended. The law, however, was repealed, before the year was 
out, mainly tlu"OUgh the efforts of John Gardiner, while Samuel 
Adams and H. G. Otis opposed its abrogation. Mr. Otis, how- 
ever, defended the captured knight of the buskin, and procured, 
his discharge on teclmical grounds. 

Eill at the opening in Board Alley : — 

NEW EXHIBITION ROOM. 

Board Alley. 

FEATS OF ACTIVITY. 

Tliis Evening, tlie lOtli of Augiist, will be exliihited Dancing on the Tight 

Ro2)e liy Monsieurs Placide and Martin. Mous. Placide 'will 

dance a Horujnpe on a Tight Rope, play the Violin 

in various attitudes, and jump over a 

cane backwards and forwards. 

INTRODUCTORY ADDRESS, 
By Jlr. Harper. 

SINGING, 

By Mr. Wools. 

Various feats of tumT)ling hy Mons. Placide and Martin, who will mahe 

Koniersetts backwards over a table, cliair, &c. 

Mons. Martin will exhibit several feats on the Slack Rope. 

lu the course of the Evening's Entertainments will be delivered 

THE GALLERY OF PORTRAITS, 

or, 

THE WORLD AS IT GOES, 

By Mr. Harper. 

Tlie whole to conclude with a Dancing Ballet called Tlie Bird Catcher, with tlio 

Minuet de la Cour and the Gavot. 



2G2 LANDMARKS OF BOSTON. 

Julm Howard Payne, avIiosg memory is immortalizeil l)y 
" Home, Sweet Home," lived in a little old wooden Iniilding 
at the corner of Clianning, formerly Berry and Sister Streets. 
His father, at one time, kept a school in his dwelhng, which he 
styled the Berry Street Academy. Howard showed an early 
inclination for theatricals, and was the leader of an amateur 
company composed of his young companions. He was also 
possessed of a martial sjiirit, and organized a band of juvenile 
soldiers of his own age, with Avhom he paraded the streets, 
armed with inuskets Ijorrowed of Wallaeh, the Essex Street 
Jew. On one occasion, when drawn up on the Common, they 
were invited into the line anil passed in review hy General 
Elliott. The company w^as called the Federal Band, and their 
uniform, blue and white, Avas copied from the Boston liight 
Infantry. Payne Avas sent to Union College, Schenectady, 
through the generosity of a noble-minded New-Yorker. His 
father's death occurring while he was at college, he resolved 
to try the stage, and made his first appearance at the Park 
Theatre in February, 1809, as Young Norval. He astonished 
everybody, and went the round of American theatres with 
great success. He went to England in LSI 3, suifc^ring a brief 
imprisonment at Liverpool as an American alien. After a time 
he went to Paris, and devoted himself to adapting successful 
French plays for the London stage. He witnessed the return 
of Bonaparte from Elba, and the scenes of the " Hundred 
Days." His future life was one of trial, vicissitude, and unre- 
quited effort. The plays of " Therese," and " Clari, the jNIaid 
of Milan," are from his pen. " Home, Sweet Home," Avas first 
sung by Miss Tree, sister of INIrs. Charles Kean, and procured 
her a wealthy husband, and filled the treasury of CoA'cnt Car- 
don. Payne afterAvards received an appointment from our gov- 
ernment as consul at Tunis. He died in 1852. "Who knows 
that " Sweet Home" Avas not tlie plaint of his OAvn heart, sigh- 
ing for the scenes of his youth 1 

"All exile from home, pleasure dazzles in vain, 
Ah, give me my lowly thatched cottage again ; 
The liird.s singing sweetly that came to my call, — 
Give rae them, and tliat peace of mind dearer than all." 



FROM THE OLD SOUTH ROUND FORT HILL. 



263 




OLD FEDERAL STREET CHURCH. 



Another abandoned cliurcli-site is near. The Old Preshyte- 
rian Meeting-house stood on the north corner of l'e(kn-al and 
Berry Streets. The latter lias changctl its name to Chamiing, 
as it did its ancient orthography, 
Bury into Berry. The founders 
of this church were Irish Pres- 
byterians, and their first house 
of Avorship was a barn, which 
sufficed until they were able, in 
17-1:4, to build a neat wooden 
edifice. Governor Hancock pre- 
sented the bell and vane which 
had belonged to the Old Brattle 
Street Meeting-house. The old 
house was a pattern of many that 
may still be seen in our older 
New England villages. 

An amusing incident is related 
of the vane, — Hancock's gift. Colonel Erving, meeting Rev. 
John Moorhead, directed his attention to the fact that the 
vane did not move, but remained fixed in its position. " Ay, 
I must see to it," said the honest parson, who ran immediately 
to the mechanic who placed the vane on the steeple. A fatiguing 
climb to the top revealed that the faidt was in the wind, which 
had remained due east for a fortnight. 

Mr. Moorhead, the first pastor, Avas ordained in Ireland, and 
was installed in Boston in 1730, a hundred years after the set- 
tlement. This was also the church of Jeremy Belknap, and of 
Dr. W. E. Channing, for whom the neighboring street is named. 

It was to this church the Convention adjourned from the 
Old State House, when it met to consider the adoption of the 
Federal Constitution, January 9, 1786. 

"The 'Veiition diil in Boston meet. 

But State House could not hold 'em ; 
So then they went to Federal Street, 
And there the tmth was tc)ld 'em." 

Jeremy Belknap was then pastor of the chiirch. John Ilan- 



264 LANDilAKKS OF BOSTON. 

cock was jiresident of the Convention, and ( Jeorge E. Minot 
yiee-president. To tlie eltbrts of Hancock is krgely due the 
adoption of the instrument. The joy of the people at the rati- 
ficati(jn was uid)uunded, and a monster procession cek'brated 
the event, in which the mechanics of Boston, who had taken a 
lively interest in the proceedings, hore a prominent part. The 
naval hero, John Foster Williams, then living in Leverett's 
Lane (Congress Street), lent his aid after the following man- 
ner : — 

. " Joliii Foster Williams, in a sliip, 

Juiued in tlie social Land, sir ; 
And made the lasses dance and skip 

To see him sail on land, sir ! " 

In 1809 tlie Federal Street society erected a new and elegant 
house, designed hy Charles Bulfinch. It Avas, when huiU, the 
only specimen of \mre Saxon-Gothic architecture in Boston. 

In 1834 a number of Polish refugees arrived in this country, 
after the final dismemberment of their native land. One Sun- 
day Dr. ('lianning announced that a collection would be taken 
up for the lienefit of these exiles. The call was nolily responded 
to ; among others, Henry Purkett, a member of the Tea Party, 
and one, of the sterling patriots of Revolutionary times, sent 
his check couched in tliese words : — 

"Pay to C*ount Pulaski, my counuander at the battle of Braudy- 
Avuie, Iiis Ijrethren, or l)earer, one hundreil dulhirs." 

Anciently Federal Street was known as Long Lane, but from 
the adoption of the Federal Constitution was known by its 
present name. "What was true of the lower part of Franklin 
Street is equally so of Federal. There was once a sutHcient 
depth of Avater near the meeting-house we have just described 
for smelts to 1)0 taken. SIuiav cites Dr. Channing as saying he 
had taken these hsh at the corner of Federal and Milk Streets, 
and another authority as having seen three feet of water in 
Fed(!ral Street. 

At the upper end of Federal Street, next the corner of ]\Iil- 
ton Place, lived Madanr Scott, the widow of Governor Han- 
cock. She married Captain James Scott in 179G. He had 



FROM THE OLD SOUTH ROUND FORT HILL. 205 

been long enaployed by the governor as master of a Loudon 
jKieket, and again, after tlie peace, sailed as master of the Nep- 
tune, the first shii) of a regular line of London packets. 
]\Iadam Scott outlived her husband many years, retaining her 
faculties nnimj)aired until near the close of her life. She died 
in 1830, over eighty. She Avas the daughter of Judge Edmund 
(.^uincy, of Braintree, and long celebrated for her Avit and 
beauty. 

Dorothy Quincy Avas at Lexington with her affianced husband 
(Hancock) Avhen the battle of Lexington occurred, and looked 
out upon the fearful scenes of that morning. She knew Earl 
Percy Avell, and related that she had often heard him drilling 
his troops of a morning on the Common. Lafayette was a 
favorite Avith her, having been entertained by her in 1781. 
"When the jNLarquis reAasited Boston, in 1824, his first call Avas 
upon IVLxdam Scott. They regarded each other intently for a 
few mcjments witliout spealdng, each contemplating the ravages 
tune and care had made in the features of the otlier. 

As Lafayette rode into toAvn, receiving the private and heart- 
felt homage of every individual of the immense throng that 
greeted him, he perceived his ancient hostess of more than forty 
years before, seated at a balcony on Tremont Street. The 
General du'ected his carriage to stop before the house, and, rising 
to liis feet, Avith his hand upon his heart, made her a graceful 
salutation, Avhieh Avas as heartily returned. This little episode 
Avas loudly applauded by the spectators of the interesting 
meeting. 

The mansion of Eobcrt Treat Paine, the eminent laAvyer, 
judge, and signer of our INIagna Charta, was at the Avest corner 
of Milk and Federal Streets. The house, a brick one, fronted 
on ISIilk Street, and appeared in its latter days guiltless of 
paint. It Avas a large, two-story, gambrel-roof structure, AAdth 
gardens extending back some distance on Federal Street. In 
tlie yard Avas a large jack Avith a turn-spit, according to the 
culinary fashion of those days. In this house Judge Paine 
died ]\Iay 11, 1814. A Bostonian by birth, pupil and usher 
of the Latin School, he AA^as a delegate to the Provincial Con- 
12 



266 LANDMARKS OF BOSTON. 

gross of 1774, at riiiladt'lpliia, and inemLer of tlie Continental 
Congress ; he was the lirst attorney-general of Massachusetts, 
and member of the State Constitutional Convention ; and also 
judge of the Supreme Court of tlie State. Judge Paine con- 
ducted the prosecution of Captain Preston. He was an able 
and witty writer ; as a man, beloved by his fellow-citizens who 
honored him with so many high pul)lic trusts. He was enter- 
taining in conversation, but subject in his later years to hts of 
abstraction from which he woidd rouse himself with a pleasant 
smile and jest. 

The younger Robert Treat Paine was one of those brilHant 
geniuses which occasionally illuminate a community in which 
wit combined with sentiment commands a high value. He liad 
a decided 'penchant for the theatre, and married an actress, — 
Miss Baker. He was lirst called Thomas, l)ut, strongly dislik- 
ing the appellation of the great inhdel TlK)mas Paine, he ap- 
pealed to the Legislature to give him a " Christian " name. 
He had been a patron of the little theatre in Poard Alley, 
and assisted with his pen at the inauguration of the Boston 
Theatre. His father, as avc know, lived hard by, and young 
Thomas was scarcely of age Avhen he wrote the successful com- 
position. The gi'eatest of his political lyrics, " Adams and 
Liberty," was written at the request of the IMassachusetts Char- 
itable Fire Society. As lii'st composed, all menti(jn of Wash- 
ington was — inadvertently, no doubt — omitted. Major Ben 
Pussell, in whoso house Paine happened to be, interfered Avhen 
the poet was about to help himself from the sideboard, humor- 
ously insisting that he should not quench his thirst until he 
had in an additional stanza repaired the oversight. Paine 
thoughtfully paced the room a few moments, suddeidy asked 
for a pen, and wrote the grand lines : — 

" Slioiild the teiiipest of war overshadow our land, 
Its holts conld ne'er rend Freedom's temple asunder ; 
For unmoved at its portal wonld Washington stand, 
And rei)xilse with his hreast the assaults of the thunder. 

His sword from the sleep 

Of its scaldiard would leap, 
And conduct with its jioint every flash to the deep ; 



FROM THE OLD SOUTH EOUND FORT HILL. 2G7 

For ne'er shall the sons of Cohimloia he slaves, 

Wliile the earth bears a plant, or the sea rolls its waves." 

The younger Paine died in 1811, three years before his 
father. Part of the garden lying on Federal Street became 
the site of the Fourth Baptist Church. Church and dwelhng 
long ago joined the shadowy procession of vanished landmarks. 
Father and son were both biu'ied from the family mansion. 

Before the occupancy by Judge Paine, this liouse, it is said, 
had been the abode of Colonel John Erving, Jr., a merchant of 
liigh standing, and colonel of the Boston Regiment, His fatlier, 
the old Colonel John Erving, was an eminent merchant before 
him, and lived in Tremont Row. The younger Erving was son 
in-law of Governor Shirley, and at his death the governor's 
funeral took place from the house of his relative, INIonday, 
April 1,1771. A long procession followed the remains to King's 
Chapel, beneath which they were deposited. The Ancient and 
Honorable Artillery Company, commanded by Captain Heath;* 
the officers of the Boston Regiment, in full regimentals with the 
usual mourning of black crape, attended. On the coffin were 
placed the two swords of the deceased, crossed. The paU was 
supported by Governor Hutchinson, Lieutenant-Governor Oliver, 
two judges of the Superior Court, and two of the Honorable 
Council. Dr. Caner preached the funeral sermon, after which 
the body was interred, the military firing three volleys, and a 
detachment of the Train of Artillery as many rounds as the 
deceased had lived years, namely, sixty-five. The governor 
wiU be remembered as a patron of King's Chapel, and it was 
doubtless Ms expressed wish to be buried there. 

In that part of Congress Street lying north of Water Street 
were the old Quaker Church and Burying Ground. The latter 
was situated opposite Lindall Street, and was the fourth in the 
town in antiquity, having been established in 1 709. The Friends 
built a brick meeting-house on that part of their lot subsequently 
occupied by the Transcript, and later by J. E. Farwell & Co. 
The house was nearly destroyed in the great fire of 17 GO, Init 
was repaired the same year. Though once numerous, only eleven 

* Afterwards Major-General Heath. 



268 LANDMAEKS OF BOSTON. 

of the sect remained in Boston in 1744; their worship in this 
house ceased about 1808, and in 1827 the property was sold. 
The remains were exhumed by tlie Friends and taken to Lynn, 
where they again received burial. ]N"o interments were made 
in this cemetery later than about 1815. From time to time the 
relics of the Quakers have been thrown to the surface l^y tlie 
excavations on and near this site. At a later period tlie 
Friends erected a small stone house in Milton Place, Federal 
Street, which is still existing; but in 1848 it was conjectured 
there Avas not a single Quaker in Boston; in 1855 none were 
resident here, — the society, like the French Church, had be- 
come extinct. Tlie house in Milton Place Avas once prote^'tcd 
by a fence, and shaded by handsome trees, — all gone, and on 
the front a huge sign of " Wool " is erected. 

The Quakers have the distinction of having l>uilt the first 
brick meetingdiouse in Boston ; it Avas in 15rattle Street, and 
dates back to 1G92. Tliis Avas disused in 1708, and the society 
removed to Congress Street. The sect seems to have ilourished 
under persecution, dying out Avlien it had ceased. Tlie (^hiakers 
sulfcred every species of cruelty in establishing their faith in 
Boston. Scourging and imprisonment Avere the mild means of 
prevention hrst employed ; banishment and the loss of an ear 
Avere subsequently decreed, — at least three persons lost this 
useful member by the hands of the public executioner about 
1G58. Fven under this severity the Quakers continued to in- 
crease and flourish. Selling them into slavery was tried and 
filled, and the death penalty Avas applied as a last resort. Four 
of the persecuted sect Avere hanged, and but for the fear of in- 
tervention by the croAvn the Puritans Avould have cut them off 
root and branch. This occurred in 1660, ratlier more than tAvo 
centuries ago. It must l)e remarked, hoAvever, that some of the 
obserA'ances of the early Quakers Avould not be tolerated even 
now. 

Congress Street has been mentioned as the headquarters of 
the Anthology Club, the first purely literary society Ave liaA^e 
an account of since the old Avar. 

Ill licvolutiuiiaiy times clubs Avere quite numerous in Boston, 



FROM THE OLD SOUTH ROUND FORT HILL. 269 

and formed the nuclei around wliich the patriots gathered. One 
of the earliest of these was the Whig Club, of wliich James Otis, 
Dr. Church, Dr. Warren, Dr. Young, Eichard Derby of Salem, 
Benjamin Kent, Nathaniel Barber, William Mackay, Colonel 
Bigelow of Worcester, and a few others were members. They 
corresponded with Wilkes, Colonel Barre, Saville, and other 
leaders of the opposition in Parliament. Civil Eights and the 
British Constitution were the standing subjects of discussion. 

In 1777-78 there was another club, composed of young 
men fresh from college, among whom were Eufus King, Chris- 
topher Gore, William Eustis, Eoyal Tyler, Thomas Dawes, 
Aaron Dexter, etc. They met in Colonel TriuiibuU's rooms at 
the corner of Court and Brattle Streets, and discussed politics, 
literature, and war. 

The building on the northeast corner of Water and Congress 
Streets was formerly called Merchants' Hall, and in it were 
kept the United States Post-Office, and Merchants' Exchange 
in 1829. The new edihce designed for the former will there- 
fore be the second location upon the same street. The Post- 
Office occupied the lower floor. Aaron Hill was the post- 
master, with eight clerks, and one penny-postman. Topliff"s 
Eeading Eoom shared the lower apartment with the Post-Office, 
and contained all mercantile intelligence useful to merchants 
"where they most do congregate." 

Upon this same spot once stood an old gambrel-roofed house 
with diamond-paned windows, a patriarch among its fellows. 
On the front was a bull's head and horns, from which the house 
was known as the Bull's Head. Over opposite was Horn Lane, 
since Bath Street. This was the habitation of George Eobert 
Twelves Hewes, a member of the Tea Party. His father was 
a glue-maker, soap-boiler, tanner, tallow-chandler, and perhaps 
tilled up his leisure with other employments. Young Hewes 
was baptized at the Old Soutli, and had a considerable share 
in the tumults worked up by the Boston mechanics. Ho lived 
to be ninety-eight years old, retaining a clear intellect until 
near the end of liis long life-journey. 

Eobert Hewes's elder brother, Shubael Hewes, was Butcher- 



270 



LANDMARKS OF BOSTON. 



Master-General in tlie town Avliile Howe liekl possession, and at 
one time during the siege six liead of cattle was the entire stock 
in his hands for troops or inhabitants. His butcher-shop was 
at the south corner of Washington Street and Harvard Place, 
opposite the Old tSouth, in an old building with a projecting 
upper .story. A slaughter-house was connected with the estab- 
lishment. I'eople (jf wealth and position Avere glad to ol)tain 
the rejected portions of the slaughtered animals during the 
investment of the town. 




JULIEN HOUSE. 

The old Julien House must e^^er remain an oliject of interest 
to all ga.stronomers. It was called " Julien's IJestorator," and 
was the first establishment noticed Avith this distinctive title ; 
all the rest were taverns or boardingdiouses. M. Jean Baptiste 
Julien Avas the inventor of that agreeable potar/e Avhich bears his 
name. He came to this country Avith the celebrated Puliucpu', 
who Avas a refugee from the French EeAa)lution. Dubuque 
occupied for a tim<>, the Shirley mansion in lioxbury. The old 
houisc Avitli its galjles, oAcrhanging u])})er stories, and huge 



FROM THE OLD SOUTH ROUND FORT HILL. 271 

cliimnoy was taken down in 1824, and succeeded by Julien, 
afterwards Congress, Hall. Its site was once a tanyard. After 
M. Julien's death in 1805 his Avidow succeeded him, keeping 
the house for ten years. It is supposed to have been built 
about 1760. 

That part of Congress Street lying south of Milk was 
formerly Green Lane, and in 1732 was named Atkinson Street, 
from an old family whose lands it passed through. The ancient 
proprietors of the soil, who gave their lands to make our high- 
ways, did not stipulate that the original names should remain 
unchanged, like the far-seeing Chief Justice Sewall. One in- 
stance is mentioned of an individual who had lived on eight 
differoit streets within fifty years, but had never moved from 
his original dwelling. Hence the maps of Boston at various 
periods bear but little reseml)lance to each other ; and he who 
visits only occasionally distant localities finds himself lost. 
The happy expedient was hit upon of renewing some of the 
old names in the new part of the city, and wc have Newbury 
and Marlborough, where they may well bailie some future in- 
quirer. In Green's Barracks in Atkinson Street were quartered 
part of the 14th Eoyal Regiment at the time of the Massacre. 

As we are now in the route of the Tea Party, we will con- 
tinue with it through Pearl Street. Before taking leave of 
Milk Street, however, we must remark that it had some other 
residents not unknown to fame. Below us is Oliver Street, 
named for that family. The quarters of General Howe were in 
a house at the corner of Oliver and Milk Streets. To him, 
probably, was confided the immediate charge of the troops and 
works in and around Fort Hill. 

In Milk Street was the residence of Thomas Flucker, Secre- 
tary of the Province under Hutchinson, whose name is seen 
appended to the official papers of that interesting period. 

Flucker's daughter, Lucy, married General Knox. We have 
seen her sharing the privations of camp life with her husband 
wherever his duty called him. She was a lovely and highly 
accomplished woman, contributing greatly to the little female 
circle around the American headquarters. Through this mar- 



272 LANDMARKS OF BOSTON. 

riage Knox became possessed of a Ihy-^g estate at Tlioiuaston, 
Me., named for General John Tliomas. 

Admiral Graves, of the Heet, seems to have preferred snug 
quarters asliore to the cabin of the flagsliip, for he took up his 
residence at the soutlieast corner of l\\arl and High Streets, 
where he might have ready access to his shipping. The admi- 
ral, it will be remembered, Avas exemj[)ted, with Gage, from 
pardon by the Provincial Congress. 

The great lire of March 20, 17C0, which began at the Brazen 
Head, in Cornliill, consumed every house on the north side of 
JNlilk Street, from Congress Street to the water, and on the 
opposite side it swept all before it — the dwelling of Secretary 
Oliver and a few tenements excepted — to Fort Hill. The 
Battery, or Sconce, took lire and blew up, notwithstanding a 
large part of the powder was tlu'OAvn into the liarbor, Governor 
Hutchinson personally assisting in this labor. All tlie region 
now known as Liljerty Scpiare was burnt over, — shops, ware- 
houses, and the shipyard that has been noted ; so that from 
Devonshire Street to the water's edge, from JMilk Street to the 
north side of State Street, scarcely a house remained standing. 

Oliver Street was very badly paved with cobble-stones some 
time before the Revolution, as far as the AVendell and Oliver 
Houses, beyond Avhicli there was no pavement. High, and all 
the neigh])oring Streets, were uniiaved, as late as 1808. At 
this time there was a brick sidewalk on tlie north side of Pearl 
Street, but none on the other, and some gentlemen caused a 
plank Avalk to be laid from High Street up the hill to their 
residences at the top. The old Revolutionary fort was levelled 
and converted into a mall since 1797, the ground lying around 
it remaining in possession of the town until after 1800. 

Kilby Street, noticed at its outlet into State, was named for 
Cliristopher Kilby, an eminent Boston merchant, on account of 
his liberality to the sulle-rers hy the great fire of 17G0, Avhcn 
the street was newly laid out and Avidened. Mr. Charles W. 
Tuttle says a descendant of Christopher Kilby married the 
seventh Duke of Argjde, grandfather of the Marquis of Lome, 
lately married to the Princess Louise of England. Kilby re- 
sided in Oueen Street. 



FROM THE OLD SOUTH EOUND FORT HILL. 273 

On the map of 1722 no street is laid down wliere tlic present 
Pi^arl Street is, l)iit a number of ropewalks extend in its general 
direction from Cow Lane (Higli Street) towards INIilk. In 1732 
the alley along the ropewalks obtaiiied the name of Hutchinson 
Street, changed in 1800 to Pearl. In 1771 there was but a 
single house on the east side, — that of Charles Paxton, Esq., an 
elegant three-story brick, some little distance from IMilk Street. 
Paxton was one of the revenue commissioners, and was not for- 
gotten by the mob which called at Secretary Oliver's. He had, 
however, made his escape with his valuables, and the o-wner of 
the house saved his property by proposing to broach a barrel 
of punch at the tavern near by. The mob accepted the alter- 
native. Paxton was also a mandamus councillor, and proscribed 
by the Provincial Congress, with Jonathan Sewall and Benja- 
min Hallowell. 

The west side of the street was occupied in its entire length, 
at the date mentioned, by seven ropewalks ; these were all burnt 
in 1794, and the street became dotted with tlie residences of 
the wealthy and refined. 

The first rope-maker in Boston was John Harrison, whoso 
** rope-field " was on Purchase Street, at the foot of Summer ; 
the former street now occupies the ground. From tliis circum- 
stance arises the name Purchase, part of the way having lj(?en 
thus secured. Harrison first exercised this calling here in 1642, 
and in 16G3 appealed to the selectmen not to license a rival 
artisan in the town. Isaac P Davis, whose nriddle name is the 
capital letter only, was the last rope-maker in Boston. 

The Grays Avere the most celebrated rope-makers of Boston. 
Edward, the senior, first served an apprenticeship with Barton, 
at Barton's Point, now West Boston. In 1712 he began making 
ropes on the Pearl Street tract, purchased of Theodore Atkin- 
son. He was the fother of Harrison Gray, treasurer of the 
province, and of John, who succeeded to the ropewalks, seven 
hundred and forty-four feet long, warehouse, dwelling, and out- 
houses, — a snug patrimony. 

" III that Iniildina; long and low, 
With its windows all a-row, 
Like the port-holes of a hulk, 
12* E 



27-4 land:\ia]^ks of boston. 

Human sjiiilers spin and spin, 
Backward down tlieir tlircails so tliin, 
Dropi)ing eauli a hempen bulk." 

Harrison Gray, treasurer of the colouy, and grandfether of 
Harrison (Jray Otis, was proscribed, and liad his estates confis- 
cated after his flight from Boston. It is stated, in Sabine's 
Loyalists, that in August, 1775, inquiry was made in the 
House of Eepresentatives concerning the liorse and chaise, 
formerly Harrison Gray's, Avhich was used liy the late L)r. 
(General) Warren, and came into the hands of the committee 
of suitplies after Dr. Warren's death. The horse and chaise 
appears to have been traced to Dr. William Eustis, afterwards 
governor, as he was directed the next day to deliver it to the 
committee named. Mr. Gray went first to Halifax, thence to 
London, where his house was the resort of the Boston refugees. 
Of him it Avas written : — 

" What Puritan conld ever ])ray 
In godlier tones tlian Treasurer Gray ; 
Or at town-meetings, siieecliif'ying, 
Could utter more melodious whuie. 
And shut his eyes and vent his moan, 
Like owl afflicted in the sun ! " 

At these ropewalks began the conflicts between the soldiers 
and rope-makers, wliich culminated in the 5tli of March aft'air. 
Among the soldiers Avere a good many mechanics, Avho were 
often employed as journeymen. One of these inquired of a 
negro Avorkman at ]\Ir. Gray's if his master Avished to hire a 
man. The negro answered that " his master Avished to liaA'e 
his vatdt emptied, and that Avas a proper Avork for a Lohstery 
For this insolent remark the soldier gave the negro a severe 
beating. Mr. Gray came up, parted them, and endeavored to 
l)ersuade the soldier to return to his barracks, Init the latter 
cursed him, and offered for sixpence to serve him as he had 
done tlie negro. ]\Ir. Gray took him at his Avord, and after a 
sound thrashing, the soldier rushed off to his barracks at 
AVheelwright's, noAV Foster's Wharf, sAvearing A'engeance. But, 
in the lauguaiie of I'ope, — 

" Wliat direful contests rise from trivial thinifs !" 



FROM THE OLD SOUTH ROUND FORT HILL. 275 

The soldier returned in half an hour with nearly seventy of 
liis comrades of the 14th, armed with pipe-staves which they 
had obtained at a cooper's shop. They made a furious attack 
upon tlic rojjewalk ]uen, who stood lirm, and finally repidsed 
tlieir assailants, pursuing them over the hill. The soldiers, rein- 
forced to the number of about three huudrctl, headed by their 
sergeant-major, returned with redoubled fury to the conflict, but 
the rope-makers had been joined by the brawny shipwrights, 
mast and block makers, from Hallowell's shipyard at the foot 
of ^lilk Street, armed with their beetles, wedges, and marlin- 
spikes. The soldiers pulled down the fence in High Street en- 
closing the field, since Quincy Place, and the ropewalk men 
levelled that on J^earl Street. A terrific vielee ensued, but the 
athletic mechanics of Fort Hill Avei'e too much for the soldiery, 
Avho were again worsted. This occurred on the 3d of jNIarch, 
1770 ; the massacre in King Street took place on the 5th. 

The northwest corner of Pearl Street is the site of the Pearl 
Street House, opened in 1836 by Colonel Shepard, formerly of 
the Indian. Queen in Bromtield Street. The house is now 
standing, devoted to Ijusiness. It was the first erected on the 
south side of the street, after the roj)ewalks, and was built by 
]Mr. Gorham for a residence. 

On the opposite corner resided Mr. John Prince, a gentleman 
of tory proclivities, who, however, did not join the royalist 
hegira of 1776. His estate, which had a court-yard and gar- 
dens, was altered by him in about 1812, when he built a block 
ot five buildings, the centre house twice as large as the others, 
for his own residence. It had a roof with a pediment raised 
above the others, giving the whole block somewhat the appear- 
ance of a public edifice. After residing there for a few years, 
he removed to a beautiful resideiHje at Jamaica Plain, and this 
Pearl Street mansion became the boarding-house of Mrs. Le 
Ivain. 

In this house John (Jaspard Spurzheim, the gifted Prussian 
phrenologist, resided during his visit to Boston, and here, also, 
he died, in the same year of his arrival in this country. He 
lies bm-ied at INIount Auburn, his tomb being a conspicuous 
object in that famed cemetery. 



276 LxVNDMAEKS OF BOSTON. 

Attuclied to the estate of ]Mr. I'rince -was a large Larn. This 
was Washington Allston's studio after his return to Boston, and 
until his removal to Camlnidgeport, in consequence of the con- 
version of the barn into a livery-stable. Here his large picture 
of Lelshazzar's Feast, now in the Athenceum Gallery, was rolled 
np and laid aside, although he worked at it a little at this time. 

Allston was the antipodes of Stuart. He Avas refined, gentle, 
and unassuming ; a charming companion, and a great favorite 
in society. Besides being a painter, he wrote verses, and a vol- 
ume of his poems was pubHslied. Coleridge said he was un- 
surpassed by any man of his age in jioetical and artistic genius. 
For many years after Allston left Bome every American Avas 
questioned l)y tlie native artists for news of the American 
Titian ; it was gtaierally conceded that for two hundred years 
no artist's coloring had so closely resembled that of the great 
master. 

His Dead INIan Avon the first prize of tAVO hundred guineas 
from the British Institution, and the artist could haA^e dis])osed 
of it for a large sum on the spot, Imt he })ref erred to sell it for 
less than its value to the Pennsylvania Academy, through 
Messrs. McMurtie and Sully. Allston employed his leisure 
hours at HarA'ard in draAving figures and landscapes. The pic- 
tures of Pine, in the Columbian Museum, Boston, were his first 
masters in coloring ; but, most of all, he admired a head of 
Cardinal Bentivoglio, by Smil^ert, in the College library, Avhile 
a student. This Avas a copy from A^andyke, and seemed perfec- 
tion to the young artist until he saAV works of greater merit. 

Allston continued to paint industriously and successfully 
iintil his death, Avhieh occurred ;d Cambridge, July 9, 1843. 
He had painted all day, and during the evening conversed Avith 
unusual cheerfulness. His Avife left the room for a fcAV moments, 
and Avhen she returned he Avas dying. Allston Avas lil^erally 
jjatronized, and no vVmorican painter of his day received such 
})riccs. His first Avife was a sister of William Ellery Channing ; 
a sister of Kichard H. Dana Avas the ]\Irs. Allston who' survived 
him. De Toc(|neville Avent to Cambridgeport on purpose to 
see the artist ; and the first impiiry of Lord Morpeth, Avhen he 



FROM THE OLD SOUTH KOUXD FORT HILL. 277 

landed in Boston, was, " Where does Allston live 1 " A num- 
ber of liis pictures are preserved in the Athenceum (iallery, 
including several unfinished works. The late S. F, B. Morse 
was a pupil of Allstou. 

The house next beyond that of ]\Ir. Prince was that in which 
Theophilus Parsons, LL. I)., lived aftor his removal to Boston 
in 1 800, and in which he died. Judge Parsons, as chief of the 
Massachusetts Bench, as one of the framers of the State Consti- 
tution, or as a zealous advocate for the adoption of the Federal 
Constitution, ranks high in the estimation of his countrymen. 

An instance of Judge Parsons's address is given in connection 
with the convention in Federal Street. One of the delegates. 
Rev. Mr. Perley, of Maine, refused to vote for an instrument 
whiclr did not acknowledge the Supreme Being. The lawyer 
undertook to argue him out of his position. " I suppose," said 
Mr. Parsons, " that in the covirse of your ministerial labors you 
have preached from texts in every book of the Old Testament." 
"Yes," said Mr. Perley, "I probably have." "You have 
preached from texts in the Book of Esther 1 " " Doubtless I 
have," said Mr. Perley. " Do you know that in the Book of 
Esther," said Mr. Parsons, " there is not a single allusion to the 
Supreme Being 1 " " It is not possible," said Mr. Perley. 
" Look ! " said Mr. Parsons. The search was made. " You 
are right," said Mr. Perley, and the clergyman confessed his 
scruples removed. 

Theophilus Parsons, the younger, is best knoAvn by excellent 
works on commercial law, and for other labors in the literary 
field. He studied law with Judge Prescott, father of the his- 
torian, and son of the commander at Bunker Hill. 

Next the house of Judge Parsons was that of Paxton, or 
Palmer. This house was divided, and became the residence of 
James Lovell, the naval officer, and of Thomas Handasyd Per- 
kins, so Avell remembered for his munificent contribution in aid 
of a blind asylum. Between this mansion and the Quincy 
estate a field intervened. 

Colonel Perkins was one of the most eminent of Boston 
merchants, and, with his brother James, engaged largely in the 



278 LANDMARKS OF BOSTON. 

Cliina and Java trade. Amassing great wealth, Lotli Lrotliers 
c(.i]itribnted freely to benevolent or literary objcets. Tlie atten- 
tion of Colonel T. H. Perkins was probably lirst drawn to the 
l)lind l)y tlie partial loss of his own siglit. The (.^uincy Itail- 
way, and tlie Washiiigton and Dunker Hill j\Ionunients were 
each objects of his interest and ettbrts. He laid the corner-stone 
of the Merchants' Exchange in State Street, and liberally aided 
tlie jNlercantile Library. He was, in common with some of his 
neighbors, an ardent opponent of the war policy of Mr. Madison. 

AVhen Colonel Perkins was in Paris, (hiring a period of ap- 
prehended revolution, Lafayette conhded his son, George Wash- 
ington, to his care, and the latter lived for some time in his 
family in Boston. 

Immediately behind the mansion of Mr. Perkins was the 
residence of Andrew (Oliver, lieutenant-governor under Hutch- 
inson's regime, distributor of stamps, etc. The house stood 
near Oliver Street, though it did not appear to have fi'onted 
upon it. Its condition was so dilapidated in 1808 as to afford 
little idea of its former ai)pearance. It was in good re[)air after 
the Eevolution, and occupied by families of respectability. 

Mr. Oliver was visited liy the mob who overthrew the stamp- 
ofiice at the dock, not far distant. Governor Bernard recites in 
his ])r()clamation that the secretary's house was entered with 
force and violence, his furniture damaged, windows broken, and 
fences pulled down, to the great terror of his INIajesty's liege 
subjects. Tlie secretary, apprehensive of a second visit from 
his fellow-citizens, thought it prudent to resign his office forth- 
witli. ]\Ir. Hutchinson was present at Oliver's house Avhen the 
mob attacked it ; he used his endeavors to sup})ress the riot 
with force, but neither the sheriff nor the colonel of the Boston 
lu'giinent tliought iJrojxM- to interfere. Peter Oliver, brother of 
Andrew, was chief justice in 1771, adhered to the royal cause, 
and left Boston Avitli the king's troops. 

Secretary Oliver died in Boston in 1774. He was one of the 
most affluent of the Old Bostonians, and had a private estab- 
lisliment rivalHng tliat of any in the province. Coaches, chariot, 
negro slaves, and good sterling plate in abundance attested his 



FROM THE OLD SOUTH ROUND FORT HILL, 279 

wealth. He was a generous patron of Smibert, who painted 
all the family portraits, including one in which the secretary 
and his two brothers Avere represented. Andrew Oliver wished 
to stand well with his countrymen, and at the same time enjoy 
the emoluments of an officer of the crown. He soon found the 
two were incompatilde, and passed from the stage soon after 
the events occurred that have given notoriety to his name. On 
the opposite side of Oliver Street was the residence of Judge 
Oliver Wendell. It fronted towards the east, with grounds 
adjoining. 

C^huncy Block marks the site of the Quiucy estate, which 
extended to High Street. Here Mr. Quincy j)assed the earlier 
years of his married life, until elected to Congress in 1805, 
when the mansion was occupied by Christopher Gore. It is 
described by Miss Quincy as 

" A liandsoiiie edifice of three stf)ries, the front ornamented with 
Corinthian pilasters ; and pillai's of the same order supported a 
porch, from which three flights of I'cd sandstone steps, and a Inroad 
walk of the same material, descended to Pearl Street. Honeysuckles 
were twined around the porch, and high damask rose-bushes grew 
beneath the windows ; at the comer of Pearl and High Streets stood 
the stable and coach-house. The grounds ascending towards Oliver 
Street Avere formed into a glacis, and were adorned with four English 
elms of full size and beauty, the resort of numerous birds, especially 
of the oriole, or golden robin." 

Christopher Gore Avas a Bostonian by birth, and an eminent 
lawyer. It was in his office that Daniel Webster read law, and 
by iiis advice that the latter continued steadfast in the profes- 
sion when beguiled by some offer of place which jnight have 
terminated his great career. Mr. Gore Avas the first district 
attorney apjiointed by "Washington over the Massachusetts dis- 
trict ; he Avas also a conunissioner under Jay's treaty, and a 
United States senator. In 1809 he Avas elected governor of 
Massachusetts. This Avas the period of the embargo of Mr. 
Jefferson, and of the stirring scenes preceding the Avar of 1812. 
The temper of the Bostonians Avas decideilly adverse to the 
measure ; the mercantile class, Avhose interests Avere most nearly 



280 LAND:\iArjva or lostox. 

alFt'ijtc'il, ■were bitter iu their comments upon tlie administratiou. 
Colonel Boyd, commanding at Fort Independence, received 
orders to fire upon any vessel attemj)tiug to violate the embargo, 
upon wliich the colors on the shipping were placed at half-mast. 
Tiie Wasp, afterwards conrpieror of the Frolic, lay in the stream 
watching the idle vessels, and threats were freely made to burn 
her. 

William Sullivan says, Crovernor Gore was tall, a little in- 
clined to corpulency in middle age, and erect, but began to 
bend at an earlier age than common. He became bald at an 
unusually early period. His hau- was tied behind and dressed 
with i)owder. His lace was round and florid, his eyes black ; 
his manners courteous and amiable. Gore Hall, at Harvard, com- 
memorates a magnificent Ijeipiest to the University in his will. 

(Jn the site t)f the Athenanim one sees the block of that 
name ; we wish the custom prevailed more generally of thus 
distinguishing localities. In the hall of the Athemvum the 
disciples of Baron Swedenborg held their worship ; the society 
has existed in Boston since 1818, receiving legislative sanction 
in 1823. It has been mentioned that the Athena?um owed 
their building to the munificence of James Perkins. Quincy 
Place an<l Perkins Street are visil)le memorials of two distin- 
guished families. 

High Street has ceased to be high, and, to keep pace with 
tlie custom of the times, should receive a more appropriate 
title. Of yore it mounted the height to the esplanade of Fort 
Hill ; now it has sunk to a monotonous level. Sister Street 
rejoices in the name as well as the smell of Leather, while Wil- 
liams Street, named for John Foster AVilliams, is metamorphosed 
into Matthews. Pearl Street is the acknowledged shoe and 
leather mart of the country, and has furnished the State with 
at least one chief magistrate. The Hutchinsons, Atkinsons, 
Grays, Perkinses, Quincys, Parsonses, Gridleys, and the rest, 
have shed a lustre round the ancient hillside, though granite 
now usurps the terraced gardens, and drays instead of chariots 
staiiil at the doors. 

Fort Hill Block, on the corner of High and Pearl Streets, 



FROM THE OLD SOUTH ItOUXD FORT HILL. 281 

marks tlie site of a mammoth structure erected for a private 
residence, aud known as Harris's Folly. Extensive gardens 
reached up the hill, quite to the enclosure at the top. In 1809 
all the land was open to the mall on the summit of the hill. 
The northwest corner of Pearl and High was for a time the 
location of the Congress House, altered from a private residence 
into a hotel. 

Proceed we onward to Purchase Street, anciently Eelcher's 
Lane, the birthplace of Thomas Dawes, afterwards a judge of 
the Supreme Court of the State, and of the jMuniciiial Court 
of Boston ; and of Samuel Adams, the great central hgure of 
the patriot jimta. The ladder Thomas Dawes was the architect 
of Brattle Street Church. He was a high patriot, and the 
caucuses were sometimes held in his garret, where they smoked 
tobacco, cbank Hip, and discussed the state of the country. 
Dawes was also adjutant of tlic Ijostoii Eegiment. The tories 
gave him the nickname of " Jonathan Smoothing-plane." 

A short descent brings us to Liverpool AVharf. Where now 
Broad Street winds around the margin of the water, the old 
footpath under the hill was known as Flounder Lane ; Sea 
Street was its continuation to Windmill Point. Beyond this 
point the Sea Street of later times Avas built straight into the 
harbor, enclosing the Soutli Cove ; it is now known as Broad 
Street in its entire length, from State Street to the South 
Boston Bridge, 

Liverpool Wharf, then Criffin's, was the destination of the 
Tea Party of December 16, 1773. It was a cold wintry after- 
noon, when 

"Just as glorious Sol was setting, 
On tlie wliarf a numerous crew, 
Sons of freedom, fear forgetting, 
Suddenly appeared in view." 

The three Indiamen, with their high poops and ornamented 
sterns, were lying (piietly moored at the wharf. They had 
been for some time under guard of a committee of twenty-five 
from the grenadier company of the Boston Regiment, of which 
Henry Knox was one. The hatches were closed, and this vigi- 
lance committee took care no attempt w'as made to land the 




282 LAXDMAIIKS OF BOSTGX. 

cai'no. The names of the tlirec ships "were tlie Dartmouth, 
Ca}>tain James Hall, The Eleanor, (Japtain James Eruce, and 
Ijrig Beaver, Captain Hezekiah Coffin. 

The number of persons disguised as Indians was- not more 
than seventeen, hut the accessions from the 
Old South, and of apprentice lads and idlers, 
swelled the numher to more than a hundred ; 
,,\?^^ S5 '^^ many as sixty went on hoard the shi})S. 
i Each ship had a detachment allotted to it 
^*^^'-™'-^ under a recognized h-ader ; Lendall l*itts 
'~~ °^" was one of these chiefs. Everything was 

orderly, systematic, and doubtless previously concerted. The 
leaders demanded of those in charge of the shi})s the keys to 
the hatches, candles, and matches, Avhich were ]>roduced. The 
Dartmouth was lirst visited and relieved of her cargo of one 
hundred and fourteen chests. As the chests Avere jiassed on 
deck, they were smashed, and nervous arms plunged them into 
the d(»ck. The contents of three hundred and forty-two chests 
mingled with the waters of the bay, and the work was done. 

It was low tide when the ships were boarded, and tlie ap- 
prentice boys, who formed the larger number of tliose engaged 
in the all'air, jumped upon the flats, and assisted in breaking 
up and trampling into the uuid such of the chests as had 
escaped the hatchets of those on board the vessels. The tide 
beginning to flow, the whole mass Avas soon adrift. 

AVe give the names of the actors in this couATTsion of Eos- 
ton harbor into a teapot, as far as known : Dr. Thomas Young, 
Paul Eevere, Thomas Melvill, Henry Purkett, Captain Henry 
Prentiss, Samuel Gore, George E. T. Hewes, Joseph Shed, 
John Crane, Josiali Wheeler, Thomas Urann, Adam Colson, 
Thomas Chase, S. Cooledge, Joseph Payson, James ]5rewer, 
Thomas Pxilter, Edward Proctor, Samuel Sloper, Thomas CJer- 
rish, Xathanitd (Treen, Edward C. Hoav, Ebenezer Stevens, 
Nicholas Campliell, John Pussell, Thomas Porter, AYilliam 
Ilurdley, Benjamin Eice, Xathaniel Erothingham, ]\Ioses Grant, 
Peter Slater, James Starr, Aliraham ToAver, Isaac Simpson, 
Joseph Eayres, Jose])h Lee, AVilliam ]\Iolineux, John Sjjurr, 



FROM THE OLD SOUTH EOUND FOKT HILL, 283 

Thomas Moore, S. Howard, ]\[atthew Loring, Thomas Spear, 
Daniel Ingollson, Jonathan Hnnnewell, John Hootcn, Kichard 
lEunnewell, A^''illiam Piel-ee, AVilliam Russell, T. Gamiuell, ]\Ir. 
Mcintosh, ]\Ir. A\^yet]i, Edward Dolbier, ]\[r. Martin, Samuel 
Peck, LendaU Pitts, Samuel Sprague, Benjamin Clarke, John 
Prince, Kichard Hunnewell, Jr., David Kinnison, John Truman, 
Henry Bass, Joseph Mountfort, William Hurd, Joseph Palmer, 
Joseph Coolidge, Ohadiah Curtis, James Swan, Mr. Iviugson, 
and Isaac Pitman.'^ 

There are authorities who give Dr. AVarren as a memher of the 
Mohawk Band. Many incidents are related of this event. It is 
said that on their return from the wharf the band passed a house 
where Admiral ^lontague of the fleet happened to be, and that he 
raised the window and cried out, " Well, boys, you've had a hne 
pleasant evening for your Indian caper, have n't youl But mind 
you have got to pay the fiddler yet ! " " 0, never mind ! " shouted 
Pitts, the leader ; " never mind, S(pure ! just come out here, 
if you please, and we '11 settle the bill in two minutes." The 
populace raised a shout, the fifer struck uj) a lively air, and the 
admiral shut the window in a hurry. A i)Owerful fleet lay in 
the roads ; the troops were at the Castle, yet not a move was 
made to arrest the work of destruction. 

Thomas MelviU, in aft.'r times a distinguished citizen of 
Boston, was of the party. On his return home his wife col- 
lected a little of the tea from his shoes, which was put into a 
bottle with a memorandum ■\ratten on parchment, and kept as 
a })recious relic in the family. jNIany came to see the famous 
lierli, luitil at last it was found necessary to seal it, to preserve 
it froin vandal hands. This bottle of tea is now in possession 
of Lemuel Shaw of this city, son of the late Judge Shaw. 

John Crane, another of the party, while busily employed in 
the hold of one of the ships, was knocked down by a chest of 
tea, falling from the deck upon him. He was taken u}) for 
dead, and concealed in a neighboring caritenter's shop under a 
pile of shavings. After the party htid iinished they returned, 
and fuund Crane living. 

* Some of these names are from Lossing's Fiekl-Book. 



284 LANDMARKS OF BOSTON. 

Several persons who were detected in tlie act of secreting 
the fragrant plant Avere ronghly handled. 

" One Captain O'Connor," says Hewes, " whom I well knew, came 
on hoard iov this pnrpose, and when he snpposed he was not noticed, 
idled his jiockets, and also the liiung of his coat. But I had de- 
tected him, and gave information to the captain of what he was 
doing. We were ordered to take him into custody, and just as he 
was stepping from the vessel, I seized him hy the sku't of his coat, 
and in attempting to pull him hack, I tore it off ; hut springing for- 
ward hy a rapid effort, he made his escape. He had, however, to run 
the gantlet of the crowd upon the wdiarf ; each one as he passed giv- 
ing him a kick or a strcdce. The next day we nailed the skirt of his 
coat, which I had pidled off, to the whipping-post hi Charlesto\vn, 
the place of his residence, with a lahel upon it." 

Griffin's Wharf, as well as Wheelwright's, had a numlier of 
largo warehouses, in which had been quartered the detachment 
C)f the notli, and the train of artillery which landed in Octo- 
ber, 17G8. A fire caught in one of the stores used as a labor- 
atory in March, 1760, and an explosion occurred, injuring sev- 
eral men and terrifying the neighborhood. 

Eowe's Wharf coincides with the old Southern IJattery or 
Sconce, an outwork of Fort Hill, and terminiis in this direction 
of the famons Barricado. As early as 1G32 a fort was begun 
on the eminence then called Corn Hill, bnt soon changed to the 
Fort-field, and finally to Fort Hill. The Bostonians Avere aided 
by their brethren from CharlestoAvn, Roxl nuy, and Dorchester ; 
two years after, it Avas declared in a state of defence. 

The Sconce Avas probably not built iintil some time after the 
main Avork, perhaps at the time of the l)utch Avar. It Avas con- 
structed of Avhole tindjer, Avith earth and stone l)etAveen, and 
Avas considered A'cry strong. In time of peace it A\'as in charge 
of a gunner only, bnt had its company assigned to it in case of 
danger. In 1705 it Avas commanded by Cajitain Timothy 
Clark, Avho Avas ordered ti) furnish an account of the ordnance, 
ammunition, etc., " meete to bee ofrere(l hys (rrace the Duke 
of ]\[arll)(n-ough (Ireat INIaster of her Majestye's Ordnance." 
In 1743 the battery mounted thirty-five guns ; at this time no 
work appears on the suimnit of the hill. In 1774 Jeremiah 



FROM THE OLD SOUTH ROUND FORT HILL. 285 

Green was captain with tlie rank of major. The British con- 
tinued to hokl it with a garrison, and liad a laboratory there. 
Colonel Poineroy's regiment, the G-itli, occupied the hill in 
November, 17G8 ; the Welsh Fusileers, who had won a splendid 
name for valor at INlinden, were posted there in 1774, and in 
1775 the works contained four hundred men. After the evacu- 
ation the Avorks were found greatly damaged, but were occu- 
pied and strengthened by the Americans. Du Portail, chief 
engineer of the American army, came to Boston in October, 
1778, to make a survey of the works, when this with others 
was strengthened and put in the best posture of defence. Sub- 
sequently, in 1779, when Washington was fortifying the passes 
of the Hudson on a great scale, the heavy guns were removed 
from all the works here and sent forward to the army against 
which Clinton was then advancing. 

The battery and fort acquire a celebrity as the theatre of 
the seizure and deposition of Crovernor Andros. In April, 1(389, 
the news of the landing of the Prince of Orange at Torbay 
reached Boston, and threw the town into a ferment. The gov- 
ernor, Eandolph, and some others sought the security of the 
fort ; the drums l)eat to arms, and the inhabitants ran from all 
quarters to the Town House, where they joined their respective 
companies. The captain of a frigate which lay before the town 
Avas seized on shore, and held as a hostage. Approaching the 
hill by the rear, the train-bands divided, a part going aronnd by 
the Avater to the liattery. A fcAv soldiers in this Avork retreated 
up the hill to the main body, and the toAvnsmen turned the 
guns upon them. Andros cursed and fumed, but Avas forced to 
yield himself a prisoner, Avith his companions. Some Avere 
imprisoned in the old jail ; his Excellency Avas placed under 
guard at Mr. Usher's house. The frigate still shoAved fight, and 
lay Avith her ports triced up, and her men at quarters ; but 
after the people had got possession of all the fortifications and 
])ninted the guns at her, the captain Avas compelled to send 
down his topmasts, unbend his sails, and send them ashore. The 
keys of the Castle Avere next extorted from Andros, and the 
bloodless revolution Avas ended. It is said Sir Edmund was 



286 L.VND^IAItKS OF BOSTOX. 

liaiKlcufled as he was conducted from the fort ; avc may well 
helieve he was not allowed to pass through the ranks of the 
townsmen without some reminders of his fallen state. 

Prohaljly Old Boston never knew a day of greater rejoicing 
tlian that which brought the news of IJurgoyne's surrender. 
'J'he rumor of the falling back of the American army to Still- 
water had l)een received with deep forebodings for the futin*e, 
sj)ee(lily dissipated by the glad tidings of the greatest victory 
of the war. A thundering salute was fired from Fort Hill and 
Dorchester Xeck. Hope animated every heart anew, and joy 
was visible in every countenance. 

From the Sconce, the lane leading \i\) the hill to the fort was 
named Sconce Lane, since Hamilton Street, and the walk along 
the beach the Batterymarch. 

A specimen of the small arms in x;se at the time of the set- 
tlement is in the Historical Society's jiossession. The guns 
Avere without locks, match or fuse being used at the rate of 
two fathoms for every pound of powder and twenty bullets ; 
pikes were still in use for foot-soldiers. 

"Where are those old ami feudal clans, 
Tlieir pikes and bills and partisans ; 
Their hauberks, jerkins, Iraffs ? 
A battle was a battle then, 
A breathing piece of work ; but men 
Fight now with powder piiiTs." 

Tlie building lately occupied by a Glass Company at the 
corner of Hamilton Street was the residence of Benjamin Hal- 
lowell, grandl'ather of the admiral. It became afterwards a 
noted inn, known as the " Sun," and kept by Goodrich in 
1822. 

Tills old Sun Tavern, now while we write nearly demolished, 
is the tliird ov fourth of that name in Boston. One nf the 
same name was in Dock Square in 1724, kept by Samuel 
Mears ; another was in Cornhill in 1755, kept by C'aptain 
James Day : we may suppose the conjunction of names did 
not escape the wits of the day. The sign of the Sun in Bat- 
terymarch Street has l)een compared in shape to a gravestone, 
with its circular top. There the likeness ended ; for underneath 
the rays of a gilded siHi was the legend, — 



FROM THE OLD SOUTH ROUND FORT HILL. 287 

" The best Ale and Porter 
Under the Sun." 

By a curious transition the sign was afterwards erected in 
jMoon Street, where it became the proper symljol of Mrs. Milk, 
whose jnixtur(!s were perhaps not as mild as the name indicated. 
Few of her customers escaped a coiqy de soleil ; her neighbors 
were Waters, Beer, and Legg. Sun Court, near by, reflected 
the name of the greater luminary. 

At the east corner of Milk Street and Liberty Square was 
the Commercial Coffee House, built on the site of Hallowell's 
shipyard. It was kept by William Meriam from 1817 imtil 
about 1830, and Avas a house of considerable resort for ship- 
masters. In 1838 John Low was landlord, and later Coloncd 
Whitney. Its place is now occupied by Thorndike's granite 
building. Here was in 1798 the principal shipyard in the 
town, from which Avas launched the ship Genet fully rigged, 
and named in honor of the then French mmister to this 
country. 

Sisle Viator. We were about to invite the reader to ascend 
Fort HiU. The waters of the harljor have swallowed the emi- 
nence, and it is as completely obliterated as if an earthquake 
had engulfed it. The base indeed is left, but it requires a 
strong imagination to picture an elevation eighty feet above its, 
hearing on its top the elegant mansions of a past generation, 
with the tops of noble elms waving in the cool sea-breezes. 
Yet tliis was the peculiar spot to which residents were invited 
fifty years ago, with the assurance that the green park on its top 
would afford a perpetual place of recreation. 

The streets which struggli^d up the sides of the hill were once 
peopled \\\i\\ a highly respectable class, btit Broad Street and 
the outlying works were soon carried by Irish, and the citadel 
Avas yielded to them. From the hill radiated the Avharves, like 
the fingers of the hand ; the eastern slope Avas peopled by ship 
artisans and mechanics pertaining to that craft. The summit 
of the hill Avas levelled so as to form a jjlateau, in the centre 
of Avhich Avas the grass-plat encircled Avith an iron fence and 
studded Avith trees. On the south side Avas built the Boylston 



288 LANDMARKS OF BOSTON. 

School and gun-liouse of the Washington Artillery ; the space 
enclosed by the buildings on tlic othej sides was called Wash- 
ington Place. The school received its name in honor of Thomas 
and Ward Jn icholas Boylston, lil^eral benefactors of Boston and 
the neighboring University. A windmill was erected on the 
hill in tlie year 1701. 

The Washington Artillery Company, on one of its annual 
visits to East Boston for target-practice, gave a sample of their 
gunnery by knocking over a cow with a twelve-pounder shot. 
The owner received the price demanded for the slaughtered 
animal. The company, with a keen eye to business, had the 
cow dressed and sokl at a considerable advance on the price 
paid the owner. 

The land from the liill-top no doiibt furnished the material 
for filling up the docks east of Kilby and Batterymarch Streets. 
The old fort liad disappeared long before the Eevolution, and it 
was not until then that the hill was again fortified. In 18G9 
the levelling of the hill was ordered, and fully completed within 
three years. A dreary waste of gravel flanked by bare founda- 
tion walls, a stump here and there of the once noble ehns, are 
all that is left of Fort Hill. iSic tniiisit. 



A TOUR ROUND THE COMMON. 289 



CHAPTEE X. 

A TOUR ROUND THE COMMON. 

Long Acre. — Tremont House. — Mr. Clay. — President Jackson. — Charles 
Dickens. — Little House-lot. — Tremont Theatre. — The Cadets. — Adino 
Paddock. — Paddock's IVLall. — Granary Burying-Ground. — The Ciranary. 

— Almshouse. — Workhouse. — Bridewell. — Park Street Cliurcli. — Miin- 
ufactory House. — Linen-Sjiinning Introduced. — Elisha Brown. — Massa- 
chusetts P;ank. — Incident of the Lexington E.xpedition. — The Common. 

— Its Origin. — Tlie Great Mall. — Fences. — Winter Street. — Governor 
Bernard. — John McLean. — Samuel Adams. — St. Paul's. — Masonic Tem- 
ple. — Margaret Fuller. — Washington Gardens. — The Haymarket. — - 
West Street. — The Gun-House. — Colonnade Row. — Massachusetts Med- 
ical College. — Haymarket Theatre. — Boylston Street. — John Quincy 
Adams. — General Moreau. — Charles Francis Adams. 

UPOX the pavement of Tremont Street once more, we renew 
our wanderings in the vicinity of the Old Granary Bury- 
ing-Ground. Common Street was the first distinctive appella- 
tion received by that part of Tremont from School Street to 
Boylston, or, to copy the language of the record, " from J\Ielyne's 
corner, near Colonel Townsend's, passing through the Common, 
along by IVIr. Sheef's intit Frog Lane." It did not become 
Tremont Street until 1829. The name of Long Acre was given 
to that part of the street between School and Winter by Adino 
Paddock, of whom something anon. He came from that part 
of London in which the great plague originated, and which was 
noted for its mughouses. In London Long Acre is the scene 
of Matt Prior's amours, when, after an evening with Swift, 
Oxford, Bolingbroke, and Pope, he Avould go and smoke a pipe 
and drink a bottle of beer with a common soldier. This name 
of Paddock's was generally accepted, though we do not learn 
that it ever had any official sanction. 

The Tremont House, though not an old landmark, is a prom- 
inent one. The corner-stone was laid on the 4th of Jidy, 1828, 
and it was opened to the public October IG, 1829. Isaiah 
13 s 



290 LANDMARKS OF BOSTOX. 

liogers was tlic architect. It was tliouglit to he, and was at 
tliis time, a model of luxury and elegance. It has seen some 
notable guests. Henry Clay, or, more familiarly, Harry of the 
West, tarried here. So did his antagonist, then President, 
Jackson, on his visit to Boston in June, 1833. These two men 
gave rise to two party watchwords which have been perpetuated 
in a singular manner. Two rival political bands of Kentuckians 
Avent to settle on the banks of the Missouri. One i^arty came 
from the Blue-Grass region, and were Clay men. The other 
was from the Big Sandy, and were Jackson men. The battle- 
cry of the parties was, " Clay and Liberty," " Jackson and 
Independence." Each little band of settlers named their vil- 
lages for their Avar-cry, and eventually the counties for their 
political chiefs. So tliey now remain. 

Brave Hull came also to see the docking of his old ship, the 
Constitution. Charles Dickens, on his hrst visit to America, 
came to the Tremont House. It took him eighteen days to 
come over in the Britannia. It is said tlie hrst person he asked 
for on his arrival was liryant ; but, as the steamer reached her 
dock after dark, we may conclude the comforts tif his hotel 
engrossed the novelist's mind. He gives a somewhat humorous 
account of his initiation into American hotel customs : — 

" ' Dinner, if you jilease,' said I to the Avaiter. 

" ' When 1 ' said the waiter. 

" ' As quick as possible,' said I. 

" ' Right away i ' said the Avaiter. 

/' Alter a moment's hesitation, I answered ' No,' at hazard. 

'• ' Xtit right away ?' cried tlie waiter, with an amount of surprise 
that made nie start. 

" I looked at him doubtfully, and leturned. ' Xo ; I Avould rather 
have it in this private room. I like it A'ery much.' 

" At this;, I really thought the waiter must have gone out of his 
mind ; as I believe he Avould have done, but for the interjiosilion of 
another man Avho Avliispered in his ear, ' Directly.' 

" ' AVell ! and that 's a fact ! ' said the waiter, Liukiug helplessly at 
me. ' Ri^u'lit away.' 

"I n<iw saw that 'ri^^lit aAvay ' and ' directly ' were one and the 
same tiling. So I re\'erseil my pre\'ious answer, and sat down to 
dinner in ten nil;.utes afterwards, and a capital dirmer it was. 



A TOUR ROUND THE COMMON. 291 

" The hotel (a very excellent one) is called the Tremont House. 
It has more galleries, colonnades, piazzas, and passages than I can 
remember, or the reader would l)clieve." 

Lieutenant Derby, better known as John Phoenix, humor- 
ously reviews the prospect of tlie burial-ground from the 
windows, which he considered, not without some degree of 
plausibility, part and parcel of all Boston hotels. Derby was 
a very clever artist, and used, to draw comic caricatures on the 
blackboard of Jones's in San Francisco. This was before tlie 
merchants had an exchange there, and Phcienix was accustomed 
to put liimself under the head of ship arrivals, instead of regis- 
tering liis name at the office. 

The little garden beyond the hotel, and next the cemetery, 
Avas once a house-lot, on which stood a modest little brick 
dwelling, built by a Mr. Newman. The hotel displaced three 
ante-Revolutionary houses : one, fronting Beacon Street, was 
the residence of John Parker ; the corner of Tremont was an 
open lot, with liandsome horse-chestnut trees, belonging to an 
old-fasliioned house with the end to the street, the mansion of 
the Hul)bard family. Kext was a house built by Thomas Per- 
Ivins, whose wife was a IVIascarene. It fronted on the street, 
and had a garden. 

The old Tremont Theatre stood on the spot now covered by 
the Tremont Temple. The corner-stone was laid on the morn- 
ing of July 4, 1827. The theatre Avas built so rapidly that a 
performance took place on the 24th of September. " Wives as 
they Were, and Maids as they Are," was the piece chosen by 
Mr. Pelby. Ostinelli, the flxther of the since famous Eliza 
Biscaccianti, led the orchestra. W. R. Blake read the prize 
address, — the same eminent comedian so long connected Avith 
the New York theatres. 

^[r. Pelby was the prime mover in the project to erect another 
theatre, which had professedly for its object the elevation of the 
character of the Boston stage. But little opposition was en- 
countered from the Boston Theatre proprietors. A company 
was organized in February, and the Avork pressed to early com- 
pletion. We give the cast for the opening night ; — 



292 LANDMARKS OF BOSTON. 

TUEMONT THEATRE. 

Tlie iniblic is respectfully informed tliat the Tremont Tlieatre 
Will open 
On Monday Evening, September 24. 
SCF The Orchestra will emljrace the most distinguished musical talent in the 
country. Leader - - - - Mr. Ostinelli. 
Tliere will he presented Mrs. Inchbald's Comedy, called 
WIVES iVS THEY WERE, AND MAIDS AS TIIEY ARE. 
Lord Priory, Mr. Herliert. 

Sir William Dorillou, Mr. Webb. 

Sir George Evelyn, Mr. Reed. 

Mr. Browzly, Mr. Blake. 

Mr. Norberry, Mr. Forties. 

Oliver, Mr. J. Mills Brown. 

Miss Dorillon, Mrs. Blake. 

Lady Mary Raffle, Mrs. Young. 

Lady Priory, Mrs. Pelby. 

Previous to the Comedy, the Prize address will be delivered by Mr. Blake. 
The entertainment to conclude with the Farce of the 
LADY AND THE DEVIL. 

Tlie elder Booth sncjeeded Pelby in the management of the 
second season, bnt withdrew before it ended. AVilson and 
linssell successively conducted, the latter bringing out the cele- 
brated Master Burke, who produced an unparalleled excitement. 
For twenty-five nights he tilled the house with fashionable au- 
diences. Messrs. Barrett and Barry were subsequent managers. 

The Tremont always maintained a high standing, though its 
patronage fell olf in later years. It is noticeable as the hrst 
Boston house in Avhich operas were produced. ]\Iany sterling 
actors have appeared here, among whom the veteran John 
(Jilbert and wife still hold a high place in general esteem. 
Finn played here, investing his parts wdtli a quaint fine humor 
that seldom failed to set the house in a roar. In 1842 the 
Tremont ceased to be a theatre, having been sold to the Baptist 
Society of liev. Dr. Colver. The interior was remodelled, and 
received the name of the Tremont Tem])le. The present build- 
ing is the second, the first having been destroyed by fire on 
Wednesday, March 31, 1852. The falling walls crushed and 
bruised a ninnber of persons. 

The Theatre was a plain sidjstantial edifice with granite front, 



A TOUR ROUND THE COMMON, 293 

in imitation of the Ionic, with pillars supporting an entabla- 
turo and pediment. The entrance doors were arched, opening 
into a Avide hall from which ascended a staircase to the boxes 
of the dress circle. There were lobbies for promenade, witli- 
drawing-rooms, and a pretty saloon in the centre. Isaiah 
Eogers was the architect. The house had a third tier and pit. 
It Asras sold for about $ 55,000. 

Elihu Burritt, the learned blacksmith, lectured in the theatre 
before its alteration, for the benefit of the Church Society. 
Under the auspices of the Mercantile Library Association, 
Webster, Choate, and Everett have delivered addresses in the 
Temple, while Jenny Lind and Catherine Hays have here 
poured forth their golden notes to enraptured audiences. Here, 
too, Gliddon unrolled his mummy in presence of astonished 
spectators, and set the medical fraternity in a fever of ex- 
citement. Last, but not least, came Charles Dickens, to in- 
terpret his OAvn incomparable works. 

In the building adjoining the Temple are the quarters of the 
Independent Cadets, the oldest military organization, next to 
the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company, in Boston. This 
corps Avas instituted in 178G, but existed prior to that time. 
It Avas first styled the GoA'ernor's Foot Guards. The comman- 
ders had the rank of lieutenant-colonel. Leonard Jarvis Avas 
the commander in 17G8, and Jolm Hancock Avas elected in 
1772, receiving his commission from GoA^ernor Hutchinson. 
The Boston Gazette of May 12, 1772, contains the following 
advertisement : — 

" Wanted, Immediately, For His Excellency's Company of Cadets, 
Two Fifers that understand Playing. Those that are ]\Iasters of 
Musick, and are inclined to engage Avith the Company, are desired 
to a|)iily to Col. John Hancock." 

The company received General Gage Avhen he landed at 
Long Wharf, in May, 1774, and escorted him to the Court 
House and thence to the ProAdnce House, his residence. The 
general had caused a l)cautiful silk standard Avith his arms em- 
broidered thereon to be made in London, and presented to the 
Cadets. Becoming, however, jealous and suspicious of Hancock, 



294 LANDMARKS OF BOSTON. 

the governor revoked Lis connni.ssion through Thomas Fhicker, 
his secretary, upon Avhich the corps disbanded, and through a 
committee returned the standard to Gage at Danvers. 

In 1778 the Cadets were redivivus, being tlien commanded 
by Coh^nel Hichborn. In that year they took part in the ex- 
pedition to Rhode Iskxnd, as did also the Light Infantry Com- 
I)any. Hancock, their old commander, was now major-geiieral, 
and accompanied them. The hrst parade of the Cadets after 
the peace was in 1785. Colonel T. II. Perkins commanded in 
1781). 

Bromfield Street was named, in 179G, for Honoralde EdAvard 
Bromtield, a distinguished merchant, whose mansion stood on 
the site of the Bromheld House. Previously it was Eawson's 
Lane; it contiiiued to be called Bromheld's Lane until 1829. 

The Horticultural Building stands on the site of the old 
Museum. Mimtgomery Place is of modern origin. Bumstcad 
Place, once the aliode of Adino Paddock, coach and cliariot 
buihku- for the gentry of Boston and the country round, has 
been sealed by a solid wall of buildings, saving only the en- 
trance to IMusic Hall. Paddock was a hot tory, and left Bos- 
ton with the royal party. His estate, it is said, fell into the 
hands of Bumstead, a coach-maker like himself, from whom 
the i)lace took its name. 

Paddock is entitled to grateful remembrance for the nolde 
English elms he planted opposite his habitation, known as 
Pa( block's ]\Ialh Ihe year 17G2 has been assigned as the 
prol table period of their setting out, consequently they have 
stood consideral)ly more tlian a hundred years, though they 
now show symptoms of decay. The trees came from England. 
They were kept for a time in a nursery at Miltim, until placed 
here by I'addock, assisted l)y John Ballard and John Crane ; 
the latter a member of Paddock's train ' of artillery. " Pad- 
dock's Walk " and " Row " are other names hy which the maU 
has l^cen called. 

These trees liave been subject to many vicissitudes. Three 
of tliem have been removed and eleven are left standing. 
INlutihition has done its work Tipon tliein. The storms of a 



A TOUR ROUND THE COMMON". 295 

century liave wrenched their branches, until the naked trunks 
are scarce concealed in the scanty foliage. The gniat gale of 
1815 did them much damage. Some injury was done to the 
growing trees during the rejoicings over the repeal of the Stamp 
Act. The British troops, perha})s out of sympathy with their 
tory adherent, did them no harm, though the trees of the great 
mall were less respected. But the greatest enemy to the exist- 
ence of the trees is found in the spirit of improvement, which 
seeks to make a modern city out of Old Boston. Au abortive 
effort to liave tliem removed was made in 1860; and again, 
while we write, they are marked for destruction. 

" Woodman, spare tliat tree ! 

Touch not a single Lougli ! 
In yoTitli it sheltered nie, 

And I 'II protect it now. 
'T was my forefather's liand 

That placed it near his cot ; 
There, woodman, let it stand, 

Thy axe shall harm it not." 

Paddock was, in 1774, cajitain of tlie train of artillery be- 
longing to the Boston Eegimcnt, of which John Erving was 
colonel. This company was particularly distinguished for its 
superior discipline and the excellence of its material. In this 
school were raised two artillery officers of high repute in the 
Revolutionary army, namely, Colonel John Crane and General 
Ebenezer Stevens. Both were housewrights, and the company 
was itself composed of mechanics. The tAvo officers named are 
not the only ones who gained distinction in the battle-fields of 
the old war. Paddock, on his return to England, was frecpiently 
consulted by the ministry about American aftairs, and received 
the military command of the island of Jersey. In 17G9 Pad- 
dock was one of the tirewards of the town of Boston, associated 
with John Hancock, Samuel Adams, Thomas Dawes, and others. 

George Cabot, a prominent leader of the IVIassachusetts Fed- 
eralists, lived in the first hoxise in Bumstead Place in 1810. 
He was in early life like the old navigators, his namesakes, a 
sailor, and became a very successful mercliaut ; was president 
of the United States Branch Bank in the year mentioned, hav- 



296 LANDMARKS OF BOSTON. 

ing a coueeded reputation as a financier. Wliile in tlie United 
States Senate in 1791 -9G, Hamilton, the founder of our finan- 
cial system, often conferred witli liim. Mr. Cabot incurred 
great odium for his connection with the Hartford Convention 
in 1814, of wliich body lie was president. Aaron Burr said 
of him when in the Senate, that " he never spoke but light fol- 
lowed liim." 

Granary Burial-Ground is notal;)le for the honored ashes 
it contains. It dates baclv to IGGO, and was first called the 
" South liurying-Groiind " ; the subse(|uent name of " Granary " 
was from the town granary, whicli stood within the enclosure.. 
It is necessary to say here that the Common originally extended 
in tliis direction to the Tremont House, and the cemetery is 
formed from its ancient territory. The eastern margin reached 
to Mason Street, and Tremont Street therefore runs through 
the Common, as it originally was. After the creation of the 
Common Bury ing-C! round, the Granary Avas sometimes styled 
the " Middle " Ground. 

" I like tliat ancient Snxon phrase wliich calls 
Tlie burial-ground God's Acre ! It is just ; 
It consecrates each grave within its walls, 

And breathes a benison o'er the sleeping dust." 

The Checkleys, Byfields, Bydes, Faneuils, Wendells, and a 
host of the old Bostonians, Crovernors Bellingham, Dummer, 
Hancock, Adams, Bowdoin, Gushing, Sulhvan, Eustis, and 
Sumner lie boneatli tlie sod in this cemetery. The celebrated 
surgeon, Dr. John Jeflries, Uriah Cutting, Eev. IMessrs. Eckley, 
Belknap, Stillman, Bathroji, and Baldwin, and Judge SewaU 
and John Hull, are also entomljcd lierc. 

The Bellingham fomily becoming extinct, liis tomb was 
given to the family of Governor James Sullivan. It lies on 
the west side of the enclosure. The Faneuil inscription was 
chiselled Funal by some awkward hand, who thus clipped the 
old Huguenot patronymic of its due proportions. Governor 
Hancock's tomb is on the Park Street side. His remains, after 
lying eight days in state, were brought to their last resting- 
])lace by an immense concourse of people. The venerable 



A TOUR KOUND THE COMMON. 



297 



Samuel Adams followed the bier until fatigue compelled liim 
to retire. It was one of the greatest funeral pageants Boston 
had seen. The ranks of the procession were swelled hj the 




CRVNAR\ BtR\I\( ( rOl^ID 



militia of town and country. The Judges of the Supreme 
Court on this occasion made their last appearance in their big 
wigs and black silk gowns. They were followed by the barris- 
ters in black goAvns and club wigs. 

Creneral Warren's remains were placed in the tomb of the 
INIinots, next to that of Hancock, and immediately in rear of 
the residence of Dr. J. C. Warren, after they were exhumed at 
Bunker Hill. 

The cemetery acquires an even greater interest from being 
the place where tlie victims of the Boston INIassacre were buried. 
Their funeral was conducted with great })omp ; Ijut although 
their martyrdom has been heralded as the foundation-stone of 
American Liberty, the remains of the slaughtered Bostonians 
13* 



298 LANDMARKS OF BOSTON". 

JiaA'c received no littiiig testimonial from their countrymen. 
The spot was long indicated by a larch-tree, Init this, falling to 
decay, has been recently replaced by the care of Mr. Appollonio. 

The Franklin cenotaph stands out in bold relief in the midst 
of the field of the dead. Under it repose the dust of both of 
Franklin's parents. The monument was erected through tlie 
exertions of a few citizens in 1827, and the-ceremony of laying 
the corner-stone was attended by the governor, lieutenant-gov- 
ernor, and many other officials. General H. A. 8. Dearborn 
delivered an address ; some Franklin School medals were appro- 
priately placed underneath. 

Ey the year 1738 both this and King's Chapel ground be- 
came so filled with the dead that the gTave-diggers were obliged 
to bury them four deep. In this year the brick wall and tombs 
were erected on the front of the old, or Chapel, burying-place. 
The Granary ground was enlarged in 1710-17 by taking in 
part of the highway on the easterly side, l)ut in about twenty 
years it became overcrowded, as we have seen, and tlie town 
liegan to cast about for a new location. It was not until after 
the date last mentioned that any tombs were erectetl here. 

Where was there ever a graveyard without its attendant hor- 
rors 1 Tradition is responsible for tht' statement that the hand 
of Hancock was severed from the anu the night after his inter- 
ment ; but this proved a cruel invention. An instance is given 
of an empty tomb being taken possession of by some Avandering 
vagrants, from wliicli tliey terrified the neighliorhood by the 
sound of midnight revelry. Human jackals have practised 
here their hateful calling, robljiug the graves of their peaceful 
inhabit, ints. 

The stone wall and fence were erected under the administra- 
tion of j\Iayor Armsti'ong. It is now proposed to carry a new 
avenue across the cemetery. This l)eing done, the remains of 
the greatest and most honored of our ancestors will be scattered 
far and near. 

" Imperial Ca>sar, dead, and txmied to clay, 
Min;ht stop a hole to keep the wind away." 

Next the burial-ground stood the Old Granary. It was a 



A TOUR ROUND THE COMMON. 299 

long wooden building, erected first at the upper side of the Com- 
mon, but removed about 1737 to the present site of the church. 
It was established so as to have a supply of grain, especially 
in cases of scarcity, where the poor might' purchase the smallest 
quantities at a small advance on the cost. The building con- 
tained, when full, twelve tliousand l)ushels, and was the largest 
in the town. The selectmen ajjpointed a keeper at their March 
meeting, also a committee for the purchase of grain. John 
Fenno, a noted wit, was keeper before the Eevolution. It was 
not used as a granary after the American war, but was occupied 
by various minor town officials. In 1795 the town voted to 
sell the building, on condition of an early removal. Still it 
remained tenanted by various tradesmen, refreshment stands, 
etc., until 1809, when it was removed to Commercial Point, 
Dorchester, and altered into a hotel. There it may now be 
seen. We have noticed that the Constitution's sails were made 
in the Granary. 

All the land upon which Park Street is built belonged to the 
Common, and was at an early day appropriated to uses of the 
town for various institutions. The street was first called Centry 
Street, from its leading up to Centry Hill, as the summit of 
Beacon Hill was called. 

The Almshouse was first erected on Beacon Street, in 16G2. 
It was burnt in 1682, measures being then taken to rebuild it. 
The reconstructed building was a two-story brick, with a gable 
roof, fronting on Beacon Street ; it was qf an L shape. This 
"Was designed as a home for the poor, aged, or infirm. It was 
soon found that the mingling under the same roof of persons 
deserving charity with those confined for ofi'ences against the 
laws was an evil demanding a remedy, and measures were 
taken, in 1712, to build a Bridewell, or House of Correction. 
This was erected in Park Street, in what year does not appear, 
but it is shown on the map of 1722. A part of this house was 
applied to the use of the insane. 

A Workhouse was erected in 1738, contiguous to the Bride- 
well. It was a large, handsome brick building, facing tlie 
Cummon, of two stories, gable roof, and was a hundred and 



300 LANDMARKS OF BOSTON. 

twenty feet iu length. This huilding was devoted to the con- 
linement of minor oifenikTs, snch as the province law styled 
"rogues and vagabonds." 

Tlie Almshouse became, in the lapse of years, totally inade- 
quate to its purposes. It had no proper ventilation, nor se})a- 
rate hospital for the treatment of the sick ; bad air, hlth, and 
overcrowding told fearfully upon the inmates. No reme<ly was 
applied to these evils until 1801, when a new building was 
erected in Leverett Street. During the Eevolutionary War the 
inmates frequently suifered for the necessaries of life, and appt'ar 
to have been at all times largely dependent on the charity of 
the townspeople. In 1795 the town sold all its property on 
Park and Deacon Streets, except the Granary or church lot. 

Both Almshouse and Workhouse were under the government 
of the overseers of tlie poor, represented by keepers. The 
inmates of the former, whatever may have been their temporal 
needs, were cared for spiritually, a sermon being preached to 
them every Sunday in summer. Captain Keayne, in 1G5G, left 
a legacy of £ 120, and Mr. Webb, in 1C60, one of £ 100, for 
the founding of the Almshouse, which was received and applied 
by the town in 101)2. Tlie former also left a sum to be used 
in l)uilding a granary. IJoth Workhouse and Almshouse were 
occupied by the British wounded after Bunker IIlII. 

Adjoining the I'ridewell was the Pound, situated where the 
Quincy residence now is. Such were the antecedents of I'ark 
and Beacon Streets. . 

For a long time the handsome spire of Park Street Church 
was the highest ol)ject seen on approaching the city. It, how- 
ever, succumbi'(l to its neighlior in Somerset Street, }ilaced at a 
greater altitude. As one of the monuments of the Common it 
is inseparal)le from tlie landscape, the slender, graceful steeple 
rising majestically al)ove the tree-tops from any point of oljser- 
vatiiin. The little monitor of the Aveather on its pinnacle 
recalls the lines of Albert G. Greene : — 

" Tlie dawai lias broke, tlie morn is up, 
Another day begun ; 
And there thy poised and gilded sjjear 
Is flashing in the sun. 



A TOUR ROUXD THE COMMON. 301 

Upon tliat steep and. lofty tower, 

Wlicre tluni thy watch lui.st kept, 
A true and faithful sentinel, 

While all around thee slept." 

The fluircli was erected in 1S09, and was the first Congrega- 
tional Society constituted since 17-18. From the fervor of the 
doctrines preached Avithin its Avails, its site has been known as 
" Brimstone Corner," — a name too suggestive to be agreeable. 




PARK STREET CHURCH. 



Edward I). Griffin, I). D., Avas tlie first pastor. 1) wight, Beeclier, 
.Stone, and other gifted preachers have occupied its i)ulpit. 
Underneath Avere vaults — long since removed — for the dead. 
Peter Banner, an English arcliitect, the same Avho made the plan 
for the line old mansiondiouse of Eben Crafts in Koxbury, de- 
signed this church. 

The Manufactory House of the old colony times stood on tlio 
oast side of Avliat is Hamilton Place. The Avest end fronted 
L(jng Acre, or Tremont Street, and had delineated upon the 



302 



LANDMAKKS OF BOSTOX. 




LINEX SPINNING-WHEEL. 



wall a female figure, distulF in hand, symbolic of the industry 
it Avas intended to promote. 

The establishment of spinning-schools is an interesting inci- 
dent in the history of Boston. The 
manufacture of cotton had l)egun as 
early as 1043, the raw material being 
ol)tained from the West Indies. In 
106.5, owing to the scarcity of cloth, 
-H the court ordered spinning to be em- 
- ployed in private families, some abate- 
\^'^ ment from the rates being made as 
____ <^ compensation. 

Al)out 1718 a number of colonists 
arrived from Londonderry, bringing 
with them the manufacture of linen and the implements used 
in Ireland. The matter was earnestly taken up l:»y the Bosto- 
nians, and a vote passed to establish a spinning-school on the 
"waste land in front of Captain Southack's, — about where Scol- 
lay's I)uildings were. These emigrants likewise introduced the 
general use of their favorite vegetable, the potato. 

From these beginnings dates the establishment of tlie Manu- 
factory House l»y the province. "William P]iilli])s, Molineux, 
and others carried the measure through the General Court. An 
excise Avas laid on carriages and 
articles of luxury to erect the build- 
ing. Spinning now became the 
order of the day. Young and old, 
rich and ])0(ir, repaired to the Ctim- 
mon with their spinning-wheels, 
great ami small, stimulated by a 
premium offered to the most skilful. 
Many were clad in garments of theii 
own manufacture as evidence ol 
tlicir industry, and on the ajipointed 
days the mall resounded Avitli the woollen spinning-wheel. 
hum of- busy wheels. The novelty soon Avore off, and after 
three or four years the masmfacture Avholly ceased. For a short 







A TOUR KOUND THE COMMON. 303 

time afterwards it was used for tlie manufacture of worsted 
liose, uietal buttons, etc., but in 1768 was rented by the jirov- 
ince and occupied by private families. 

At this time it acquired celebrity from tlie attempt made by 
Colonel Dalrymple, of the 14th royal regulars, to obtain it for 
quarters for his regiment ; but the tenants, with ]Mr. Elislia 
Brown at their head, flatly refused them admission. Governor 
Bernard issued his. mandate, which was served by the sheriff, 
ordering the surrender of the premises ; but the doors were 
securely closed, and Brown boldly denied the right of Bernard 
to dispossess him. The wily lieutenant-governor tried next to 
induce the tenants to open, but with no greater success, and at 
last a stratagem was tried. The sheriff and his deputies ob- 
tained an entrance to the cellar, but instead of securing the 
obstinate tenant, were by him made close prisoners in the 
cellar, where they remained until a tile of soldiers fi'om the Com- 
mon came and released them. 

Thus did Elisha Brown make good his resistance against the 
combined civil and military authority of the province, after 
enduring a state of siege for several Avecks. A gravestone in 
the Granary commemorates his gallant vindication of private 
rights. Dalrymple's men were quartered in Faneuil Hall. 

The IVIassachusetts Bank was first located in this building. 
It was instituted in 1784, in which year the bank became a 
purchaser of the building, sold by order of the General Court. 
Banking was a very difterent affair in those days from what it 
is at present. Articles of merchandise were received as security 
for loans, and an entertaining picture might be drawn of the 
procession drawn up Itefore the doors on discount days. One 
half per cent per montli was the rate demanded, and no credit 
could exceed sixty days. Governor Bowdoin was the first 
l)resident. 

The building was of two stories, of brick, with an entrance on 
Hamilton Place by a flight of double stone steps protected by an 
iron railing. It was used T)y the British during the occupation, 
and received its quota of the wounded from Bunker Hill. 
Various families occupied it in after years ; also P. A. von 



304 LANDMARKS OF BOSTOX. 

Hagcn, a pioneer in tlie manufacture of pianofortes. In 180G 
it was pulled down, and Hamilton Place then built. The 
Manufactory House was one hundred and forty feet long, with 
an imobstructed southerly view in 1784. It had a large hall 
in the centre, with wings fifty feet long extending upon either 
side ; underneath was an excellent cellar, the same in which 
Sheriff Greenleaf sojourned. The central part was occupied by 
the bank, giving twenty other apartments for tenants. The 
land belonging to it covered the whole place. 

At the corner of Hamilton Place IMessrs. J. li. Osgood and 
Company continue the puldication of the leading periodical of 
the country. The originator of the North American lieview 
was Williani Tudor, si>n of lion. Judge Tudor, and one of the 
founders of the Anthology Club. The lirst four volumes of 
the Peview, which was tirst published in 1811, are said to be 
almost entirely from his hand ; the first number, even to the 
literary notices, Avas, as jNIr. Tudor himself stated, wholly Avrit- 
ten by him. Mr. Tudor, as the agent of his lirother Frederick, 
estaljlished in 1805 the traffic in ice Avith the West Indies, 
Avhich has grown to such prodigious pro^Jortions. He was also 
the lirst to draw pul)lic attention to the erection of a monimient 
on Punker Hill, but did not live to see its completion. 

As we are trenching on the Pmits of Long Acre, a Revolu- 
tionary incident rises into view. Here, on the morning of the 
19th of April, Earl Percy ranged his columns for the march to 
Lexington. Colonel Smith had sent a courier re(juesting rein- 
forcements, and Percy Avas to command them. His lirigade, 
made up of eight companies of three regiments of infantry, 
the 4th, 23d, and 49th, detachments of Pitcairn's marines, 
and tAvo })ieces of artillery, extended from the head of the mall 
to Court Street, opposite the schoobhouse of INIaster Carter. 
l*ercy, mounted on a Avhite horse, galloped up and down his 
ranks. The school, throAvn into a ferment by the unitsual 
spectacle, Avas dismissed ])y the master Avitli the speech, — 
" Boys, Avar has begun ; tlie school is broken up." 

The column took up its march OA^er the Neck to the tune of 
Yankee Doodle. Percy seems to haA^e stood high in the conli- 



A TOUR ROUND THE COMMON. 305 

denoe of his general, and, in fact, lie appears to have been a 

universal favorite. The return from the march in wliich the 

provincials 

" Taught Percy fasliionalile races, 
And modern modes ol' Chevy-chaccs," 

is celebrated in the Eevolutionary ballad in tliis wise : — 

" Lord Piercy seemed to snore, — but may tlie muse 
This ill-timed snoring to tlie peer excuse. 
Tired was the long boy of his toilsome day ; 
Full iifteeu miles he fled, — a tedious way ; 
How should he then the dews of Soninus sliun, 
Perhaps not used to walk, much less to run." 

The Common is now, as under the government of John Win- 
throp, the common land of the inhabitants of Bostdu. Its 
original purpose was for pasturage and military parade. From 
the earliest times until after Boston became a city, the tinkling 
of l)ells and lowing of cattle miglit be heard across its hills and 
dales. It was, after its purchase from Blackstone, preserved 
from encroachment by a vote passed March 30, 1G40 : — 

" Ordered, that no more land be gi'anted in the Town out of the 
open ground or common field, which is between Gentry Hill and 
^Ir. C(jll)ron's end, except 3 or 4 lots to make vp the street from 
Bro. Eobt. Walker's to the Round Marsh." 

Colbron's field was at the lower end of the Common, lying 
along Pleasant Street and the water, to Washington Street, It 
was Boylston Street that the selectmen had in view. 

Xo other city in America has fifty acres of green turf aiid 
noble forest trees in its very midst. Its central position renders 
it accessible from every quarter of the town, and, although it is 
not dignified with the name of a park, it is at once the glory 
and beauty of the ancient peninsula. We shall take up its 
features as we pass along under the green ar.dies of the Great 
Mall. 

Upon the earliest map you mil see but three trees on the 
Common. These were tlie monarch, then and still known as 
the " great tree," and two of respectable size standing near the 
middle of Park Street. The first trees planted were the outer 
row on Tremont Street, between 1722 and 1729. A second 



30G LANDMARKS OF BOSTON. 

row Avas placed there in 1734, aii<l the third was added fifty 
years later, — some authorities say before the Ivevolution. This 
walk was long known as " The Mall," there lieing no other 
within the Common, until that next Beacon Street was laid out 
in 1S15- 16. Charles Street was the next laid out, in 1823; 
and Park Street Mall, in 1826, under the elder Quincy's may- 
oralty. 

It has been stated, on the authority of the son of one of 
those employed, that the first trees of the Great ]\Iall, set out 
near the Park Street Church, were planted by the apprentices 
of Adam Colson the elder, then one of the selectmen of the 
town. One of the apprentices was named Kurd. Colson 
was a leather-dresser, and lived in Frog Lane, now Poylston 
Street. 

Put the Great IVIall was not at the beginning of this century, 
as now, a grove of near a third of a mile in length. The 
large trees scarcely extended below West Street, those lieyoud 
being merely saplings. That part of the Common forming the 
southeast corner, comprising a little more than two acres, and 
lying east of the burying-ground, was not acquired until 1787, 
when it was purchased of William Foster, whose mansion stood 
where now the Hotel Pelham is. The tract acc^uired was known 
as Foster's Pasture. 

The Pritish soldiers, with a truly vandal spirit, cut down 
several of the largest trees in the mall the morning they evac- 
uated the town. A larger numlier had lu'fiire been sacrificed to 
provide fuel, but this was the act of malice alone. The surface 
of the Common was greatly disfigured by cellars and ditches 
dug throughout the camps, traces of which long remained 
visil)le, even to the circles made by the tents. General Ilowe 
stayed the destruction of the trees of the mall at the S(.)licita- 
tiou of the selectmen. 

Before the Pevolution there was a wooden fence, but this, 
too, was used inr fuel, and the Common lay open until after the 
j)eace, when it was rebuilt by a subscription set on foot by Dr. 
Gliver Smith. The iron fence was erected in 1836, at a cost 
of I 82,.^)0n. Its length is 1,932 yards, — rather more than a 



A TOUR KOUND THE COMMON. 307 

mile. Ill 1733, wlieii the town voted to plant a second row of 
trees at a suitable distance from tliose ah'eatly set out, tho 
selectmen were directed to set up a row of posts with a rail on 
the top of them, extending from the Granary Burying-Gi'ound 
to Colonel Fitche's, leaving openings at the several streets and 
lanes. In 1739 a similar fence was ordered from Common 
JStreet to Beacon. 

The Common appears to have been first called " Ci^ntry 
Field," taking this name from the hill on whose slope it lay, 
which later received the name of Beacon Hill. Century Field 
is another instance of the quaint orthography, of which the 
records furnish abundant specimens. It appears to have been 
indifferently called the " Training Field " and " Centry Field " 
for a long time. 

Turning once more to the street, we pause at tho entrance of 
the Music Hall. There was, in 17G8, a hall of this name in 
Brattle Street, opposite the meeting-house. A concert was ad- 
vertised to be given November 21, 17G8, to be followed by a 
ball. Tickets twenty shillings, lawful money. 

On the corner of Winter Street once stood an old ante-Revo- 
lutionary house, with a fine garden, in which, it is said. Governor 
Bernard at one time made' his town residence. It became a 
famous boarding-house under the successive auspices of Mrs. 
Hatch and Mrs. Dexter. Governor Strong, when in town 
during his second term, resided with Mrs. Hatch. 

Tlie following toast was published in 1817, as having been 
given at the celebration by the blacks in Boston of the anni- 
ver.sary of the abolition of the slave-trade : — 

" Governur Brouks, may the mantelpiece of Caleb Strong full upon 
the lieil of his distinguished predecessor." 

John ]McLean, the eminent merchant, founder of the ^McLean 
Asylum, boarded with ]\Irs. Dexter. His financial reverses are 
well known. It is related of him tliat he one day assemliled 
his creditors at a dinner, where each found under his plate a 
check for the full amount due him. This was after he had been 
legally releaseil from his ol)li!jations. 



308 LANDMAUKS OF BOSTON. 

Among the names liestowed npon tliis Inisy mart of fashion 
■was Blott's Lane, from IJobert Dlott ; also l>annister's and Wil- 
lis's Lane. 

Winter Street once boasted a resident so influential in the 
cause of liberty as to receive the distinction of outlawry from 
George III. The offences of Samuel Adams and John Hancock 
were too flagitious to admit of pardon. The house of Sanmel 
Adams stood on the south side of Winter Street, on tlie corner 
of Winter Place. It was a two-story wooden house, fronting on 
the street ; at the back was an L, and in the rear a small gar- 
den. The building was standing as late as 1820, and, while it re- 
mained, was not the least interesting oliject to be seen in Boston. 
Samuel Adams was a Boston boy. Born in 1722, he had 
seen the administrations of the royal govermirs fn_im Burnet to 
Gage. He took his degree at eighteen at Harvard, and after 
trying unsuccessfully a merchant's career, devoted himself to 
literature, until called to a political life. First a tax-gatherer, 
then a representative, his influence begins to appear at the com- 
mencement of the Stamp Act ditflculties. After the Massacre, 
he overbore the flimsy objections of Hutchinson to a removal 
of the tronps from the town by a manly, Ixdd, and unanswer- 
able argument. 

In later times, in all the movements of the people of Boston 
preceding actual hostilities, Samuel Adams was the admitted 
power behind the throne. Warren was brave, Hancock rich, 
and Adams sagacious. It was remarked of Hancock that he 
paid tlie jiostage, while Adams did the writing. Lord North, 
when informed tjiat Hutchinson had yi(dded to the demand of 
the chairman of the town committee, called the regulars "Sam 
Adams's two regiments," in crmtempt. The ]\Iinistry styled 
him "Chief of the Revolution." 

Mr. Jeflerson's opinion of Samuel Adams is a concise and 
deserved tribute to the jiatriot. Says the sage of JMonticello, 
" I can say that he was ti'uly a grc^it man, — wise in council, 
fertile in resources, immovable in his purposes, — and had, I 
thiid<, a greater share than any other member in advising and 
din'ctimr oiu- measures in the Xorthern war." 



A TOUR ROUND THE COMMON. 309 

AVhcn Adams, a fugitive with Hancock, lieard the firing on 
■Lexington Common, he exulted, knowing that the day of hvi- 
]nihation was passing fore\-er away. The sword was now to 
decide the contest, and Adams labored without intermission in 
the councils of the incipient nation. He was an active member 
of the Congress of 1774; and lie drew up, with John Adams, 
the tlraft of the State Constitution. A member of the con- 
vention to consider the Federal Constitution, he was not at 
lirst in fovor of its adoption, but acceded to the plan of 
Hancock to ratify the instrument and propose amendments to 
it in accord with the views of Massachusetts statesmen. He 
was lieutenant-governor rindcr Hancock, and followed him to 
his last resting-place. From 1794 to 1797 the venerable Sam- 
uel Adams governed the State. He died in 1803, an octoge- 
narian. 

It is related by Waterhouse that the two Adamses, John and 
Samuel, were one day walking in the mall we have just been 
describing. As they came o})posite the noble mansion of Han- 
cock the latter remarked, with emphasis, " I have done a very 
good thing for our cause, in the course of the past week, by en- 
listing the master of that house into it. He is well disposed, 
and has great riches, and we can give him consequence to enjoy 
them." 

Samuel Adams was of ordinary height, muscular form, and 
liad light complexion and light blue eyes. He wore a red 
cloak, a gray tie-wig, and cocked hat. In person he Avas very 
erect. His father was a l)rewer, and his son Samuel succeeded 
to his business. Admiral Coffin used to relate that he had car- 
ried malt on his back from Adams's brewery. 

The old estate on Purchase Street, where Adams was born, 
Avas only about sixty feet north of Summer. It faced the 
liarbor, commanding a fine view, and Avas conspicuous among 
the few buildings contemporary Avith it. On the roof Avas an ob- 
servatory and a railing, Avith ste})s leading up from the outside. 
It was improA'eil in 1730, and the grounds were still adorned 
Avith trees and shrulibery as late as 1800.'^ This Avas the estate 

* Wells's Life of Samuel Adams. 



!10 



LANDMARKS OF BOSTON. 



preserved by Samuel Adams after liis father's unsuccessful 
speculation in tlie Land Bank sclienic. 

Other statesmen and soldiers famous in the pages of history 
have vi^alked in the old mall. We have no doubt that Wash- 
ington and Winslow, Loudon, Amherst, and Hood, Gage, Clin- 
ton, Burgoyne, and Howe, have all sought its leafy shades. 
Talleyrand, Moreau, Louis PLilijjpe, and Lafayette have doubt- 
less paced within its cool retreats, and meditated upon tlie flite 
of empires they were to l)uild or overthrow. 8ilas Deane, 
Pulaski, Gates, and Greene have certainly trod this famous walk. 

St. Paul's, overshadowed and overtopped as it is by its feudal- 
looking neighbor, has yet some points of attraction. It was 




I Hi 






ST. PAULS CHTTRCn AND MASONIC TRMPLE. 



designed by Captain Alcxanib'r Parris, thougli, it is said, Wil- 
lard drew some of tlu' working ])laus, and superintended the 
stone-work, cutting some of the capitals witli his own hand in 
the adjoining gardens. The front is unfinished, ami the general 



A TOUR ROUND THE COMMON. 311 

aspect of the building did not satisfy the expectation for a 
model of ancient art. The pediment was intended to be orna- 
mented with bas-reliefs representing Paul before Agrip[)a, which 
would have added to the beauty of the front, but want of funds 
compelled the abandonment of this design. Tlie main building 
is of gray granite, once white, but now blackened by the action 
of the elements. The portico is of sandstone from Acquia 
Creek, the columns of which have been compared, not inaptly, 
to a collection of grindstones, thej being composed of many 
separate sections. Taken as a whole, the aj^pearanco of St. 
Paul's may be styled " dark, gloomy, and peculiar." 

Thc! erection of St. Paul's marked an era in the architecture 
of Boston churches. Hitherto the houses of worship were of 
the same general character. King's Chapel and Brattle Street 
alone excepted. The latter were the onlj^ departures from the 
stiff, and, Ave may add, ugly structures introduced by the Puri- 
tans. St. Paul's Avas the first specimen of the pure Ionic in 
tlie town. 

This was the fourth Episcopal church erected in Boston ; 
consecrated June 30, 1820. Dr. Samuel F. Jarvis was the first 
rector. The interior is chaste and beautiful. The ceiling is a 
cylindrical vault, with panels spanning the whole width of the 
church. Underneath the floor are tombs. The remains of 
General "Warren Avere deposited under St. Paul's in the tomb 
of his nepheAV, Dr. John C. Warren, until removed in August, 
1855, to the family vault at Foi^est Hills. 

Solomon Willard came to Boston in 1804, and first Avorked 
at his trade of carpenter. He was employed on tlie famous Ex- 
change Coffee House, the conflagration of Avhicli, in 1818, Avas 
seen a hundred miles from Boston. He very soon applied him- 
self to the study of architecture and carving in Avood. The cap- 
itals for the Brighton Meeting-house, and those for Park Street 
Church steeple, are by his hand. He also carved a bust of 
Washington for the seventy-four-gun ship of that name, and 
executed a model of the public buildings in Washington for 
Mr. Bulfinch. The eagle noAV on the apex of the pediment of 
the Old Custom House Avas carved by ]\f r, AVillard ; it is five 



312 LAND^FARKS OF BOSTON. 

feet high, and measures tlie same distance from Avlng to wing. 
His great work was tlie lUinker Hill Monument, of which he 
Avas the architect, and he was also the discoverer of the Bunker 
Hill Quarry at Quincy, The Court House, in Court Sc^uare, 
was designed by Mr, Willard, 

The old Masonic Temple, noAv used by the United States 
courts, is built upon a part of the Washington Gardens. The 
corner-stone was laid in 1830, and two years elapsed before it 
was dedicated. The basement and belt is of hammered granite. 
Two lofty (lotliic towers, witli l)attlements surmounted l)y })in- 
nacles, flank the entrance, and are a picturesque feature of the 
environs of the Great jVIall. Bench and Bar now usurp the high 
places of INlasonry, to v.diidi a newer and more magnificent 
temple has lieen dedicated. 

In tlie u})per story of the IMasonic Tem]il<? was the school of 
A. Bronson iVlcott, the philosopher, and father of the pojudar 
authoress, Loiiisa INIay Alcott. In ]\Ir. Alcott's school Sarah 
]\Iargaret Fuller, afterwards Countess d'Ossoli, was an assistant 
teacher before she went to Providence, li, I., to teach. ]\Iiss 
Fuller, " the best talker since De Stael," lived Avith her uncle, 
Henry II, Fuller, on the north siile of Avon Place (Street), 
Avliere she held for several seasons her "Conversations" for 
young ladies. She Avas afterwards invited to ]S"ew York, by 
Horace Greeley, as a contril)utor to the Ncav A^ork Tribune. 
The memory of her remarkalde talents and literary successes is 
still fresh, and recalls the painful impression caused l)y her sad 
fate from shipwreck on the Kcav Jersey coast, Avhen returning 
from Europe in 1850 Avith her husband and child. 

It is said she could compose Latin verse Avhen only eight 
years old. Her Avritings, much as they Avere admired, Avere not 
equal to her conversation, in Avjiich lier Avonderful brilliancy 
and force of expression came forth Avith full poAver, until the 
best talkers jn'cferrcd to become listeners in her society. The 
story of her life has often been told, and constitutes one of the 
brightest as Avell as one of the saddest jiages of our history. 

The "Washington Gardens extended to the corner of West 
Street. They were surrounded l)y a brick Avail, a 2)art of Avhicli 



A TOUR ROUND THE COMMON. 313 

is 83011 in the foreground of tlie view of the Haymarket in the 
frontispiece. A concert was announced here as early as 1815, 
by J. II. Slialfer. In 1819 an amphitheatre was erected wiLliin 
the grounds, wliich afterwards took the name of the Wasliing- 
ton Theatre. The managers of Federal Street were at tu'st 
interested in this establishment, until it passed from their con- 
trol and became a rival. The house was adapted to the uses 
of a circus as well as for a theatre, equestrian performances 
having been given in it a number of times. As such it appears 
to have been the first in Boston. Following the Old Driu-y and 
Haymarket, it had an English name, being called Vauxhall. 
A battalion of British troops is said to have been quartered iu 
the grounds at tlie time of the occupation, when tliey Averc 
known as Greenleaf's Gardens. 

The site of these gardens was the residence of Stephen Green- 
leaf, the old sheriff of Suffolk under the stormy administration 
of Governor Barnard. He was the same whose exploits at the 
Manufactory House have been chronicled. The sheriff was a 
confirmed royalist, but did not join in tlie hegira of that party 
from Boston. He died at the great age of ninety-one. After 
him it became the mansion of James Swan, who long lived in 
Paris, and was imprisoned in St. Pelagic for many years. 

The reader will obtain from the frontispiece an excellent idea 
of what the district embraced between West and Boylston 
Streets was in 1798. At the lower corner of West Street was 
the Haymarket. Beyond, at the south corner of Mason Street, 
was Hatch's Tavern, with Frothingham's carriage factory in the 
rear ; farther on is seen the Old Haymarket Theatre, and, at 
tlie corner of Boylston Street, the residence of William Foster, 
where now the Hotel Pelham stands. In the right foreground 
is the West Street entrance to the Common ; the trees receding 
along the mall disclose the river beyond, whose breezes then 
fanned and invigorated the hahitues of the spot. The picture 
is from a water-color by liobertson, once the ju'oporty of John 
Howard Payne, now in possession of the Public Library. Tlie 
Whipping-Post and Pillory were situated near the West Street 
gate after their removal from State Street. 
14 



314 LANDMARKS OF BOSTON". 

Long before the Ecvolution, as early as 1722, a free school 
was estabhshed in Avhat is now ISIason Street, near the corner 
of West. It was then on tlie bonndary of the Common, the 
land now lying between having beiai sold off from it. The 
school was called the Simth AVriting, was the fourth in the 
town, and has, in later times, been known as the Adams Scliool. 
The Common extended to JNIason Street since 1800. 

A gun-house stood at the corner of AVest Street at the begin- 
ning of the lie volution, se})arated liy a yard from the school- 
house. In this gun-house were ke})t two Ijrass three-pounders 
belonging to Captain Adino Paddock's train. These pieces had 
been recast from two old guns sent liy the town to London for 
that pur[)ose, and had tlie arms of the })rovince engraved upon 
them. They arrived in Loston in 1708, and were hrst used at 
the celebration of the King's birthday, June 4, when a salute 
was iired in King Street. Loth school and gun house are con- 
nected witli a celebrated event. 

]\Iajor Paddock had expressed an intention of surrendering 
these guns to Governor Cage. Tlie mechanics, wlio composed 
this company, resolved that it sliould not be so. The Lritish 
general had l)egun tii seize tlie military stores of the province 
and disarm the inhabitants. Accordingly, the persons engaged 
in the })lot met in the school-room ; and when the attention of 
the sentinel stationed at the door of the gun-liouse was taken 
oft' by roll-call, they crossed the yard, entered the building, and, 
removing the guns from their carriages, carried them to the 
schoolroom, where they were concealed in a box in which fuel 
was k(3pt. 

The loss of the guns was soon discovered, and search made, 
in which the school did not escape. The master placed his 
lame foot upon the box, and it was not disturbed. Several of 
the Ijoys were }u*ivy to the ail'air, l)ut made no sign. Lesides 
the schoolmaster, Abraham Ilolbrook, Xathaniel Lalch, Samuel 

Gore, ]\Ioses Grant, Jeremiah Gridley, Whiston, and some 

others executed this coup dc hkiIik 

Loring's account says the guns remained a fortnight in the 
school-room. At the end of that time they were taken in a 



A TOUR HOUND THE C0M:\10X. 315 

wlieelbarrow at ni;4lit and carrii'd to Wliiston's blacksmith's 
shop at the South End, and deposited under the coah From 
liere they were taken to the American lines in a boat. The 
guns were in actual service during the whole war. After the 
l)eace the State of Massachusetts applied to Congress for their 
restoration, Avhich was granted by a resolve passed May 19, 
1 788, in which General Knox, Secretary at War, was directed 
to place a suitable inscrijjtion upon them. The two guns were 
called tlie " Hancock " and " Adams," and were in charge of the 
Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company, until presented, 
in 1825, by the State to the Ihmker Hill Monument Associa- 
tion. They are now to be seen in the chandler at the top of 
Bunker Hill Monument. The inscri^^tion. except the name, is 
the same on each : — 

Tlie Hancock : 

Sacred to Liberty. 

This is one of four cannon, 

whicli constituted tlie wiiole train 

of Field Artillery 

possessed by the British Colonies of 

North America 

at the coniinencement of the war, 

on the 19th of April, 1775. 

This cannon 

and its fellow, 

belonging to a number of citizens of 

Boston, 

were used in many engagements 

during the war. 

The other two, tlie property of the 

Government of Massachusetts, 

were taken by the enemy. 

By order of the United States 

in Congress assembled. 

May 19, 1788. 

The two guns referred to as captured by the enemy were 
<Kincealed in a stable belonging to a house on tlie south side of 
Court Street, near the Court House. They were taken out over 
the Neck in a cart loaded with manure, driven by a negro ser- 
vant of George INIinot, a Dorchester farmer. Thus the four guns 
belonging to the province escaped the clutches of Gage. The 



316 LANDMARKS OF BOSTON. 

two last referred to were some time in possession of the Dor- 
chester Artillery. 

Colonnade Iiow, a nnif(»rm rani;e of twenty-four l)i-iek l>uild- 
ings, was constructed in 1811, and occupied by tlic elite of 
Boston society. Each house had, or Avas intended to have, a 
row of freestone columns in front supporting a piazza, — hence 
the name. In 1824, after the visit of Laiayctte, Amos Law- 
nuice and otlier occupants of the row })etitioned to have 
Colonnade Iiow called Fayette Place, Init it failed to receive 
official sanction, though it continued to l>e Sd called liy the resi- 
dents. At the same time- the name of South jVIlcn Street was 
changed to Fayette Street. I'ut few of the huildings in the 
row retain their original a}ipe;irancc, inexorable trade having 
demanded and ol>tained ailmittance into this stronghold of 
Boston aristocracy. A more plebeian ap[)ellation of the l)lock 
was "Cape Cod lo)W," either from the antecedents of some of 
the dwellers, or their tralH;:; in the staple of the Commonwealth. 

The Lowells have lieen a distinguished family in Massachu- 
setts, from Revolutionary times to the present day. Judge 
Lowell was a delegate to the Congress of 1782-8,3, and was 
appointed by AYashington Judge of the United States District 
Court at its organization. The judge Avill ever l»e remembered 
as the meml:»er of the convention Avhich framed the State Con- 
stitution, where, as one of the committee to draft that in- 
strument, he inserted in the " Bill of Bights " tlie clause 
declaring that " all men are l)orn free and e([ual," with the 
avowed ]iur|)nse of abolishing slaAery in the Common wi-alth. 

Bev. (Jharles Lowell, of the West Cliurrh, was a son of 
Judge Lowell, who lirst studied law in Btston l)efore he took 
up theology. ( )ur distinguished contemporary poet, James 
Bussell Lowell, is a sou of the clergyman. Another of the 
sons of the Bevolutionary judge was Francis Cabot Lowell, to 
Avhom, more than any other, belongs the credit of estaldishing 
the AValtham cotton flxctory, the precursor of the LoAvell works. 
Tlie city of l^owell was named for him. It was liis sou, JtJin 
Lowell, Jr., who founded by his will the Lowell Insiitut;'. 

At No. 1 9 of the Colonnade resided John Lowell, son of the 



A TOUR KOUND THE COMMON. 317 

judge of Revolutionary antecedents. Mr. Lowell acquired fame 
as a political Avrit.T, wielding a trenchant pen. As an t)pponent 
of the "Last War," — as that of 1812 was long called, — he 
obtained considerable celebrity under his nam de plnme of the 
" IJoston liebel," from the boldness and severity Avith which he 
attacked the administration. He refused office, deeming the 
post of honor the private station, but is remembered as a 
founder of the Massachusetts General Hospital, the Athemeum, 
Savings Bank, and the Hospital Life Insurance Company. He 
built a brick house in School Street, occupied for lawyers' 
offi.-es, on the ground now open in front of the City Hall. 

Tlie Massachusetts Medical College, an appendage of Harvard 
Tniversity, was at one time situated in j\Iason Street, inune- 
diately behind (Jolonnade liow. It was a brick edifice, with a 
l)(nUment raised above tlie central portion. A dome, with bal- 
u.>trade, surmounted the whole. The double tier of windows 
were enclosed in arches rising the whole height of the building. 
Taken altogether, its external aspect might be called ugly. 
"Within, the central building was occupied by an anatomical 
museum, with a laboratory underneath ; the lecture-room was 
in tlie south wing. 

Untold horrors were associated with tliis building in the 
minds of the urchins wlio frequented the adjoining schoohhouse. 
Its contiguity to tlie Ci)mmon Burying-Ground, too, seemed to 
savor of a strong union between demand and supply. The 
professors were regarded in the neighborhood as so many ogres, 
and the students as no better than vampires. They ate their 
oysters or passed the jest over the dissecting-table "with a sang- 
froid simply horrible to the uninitiated. An instance is re- 
membered of a student, wlio went to pass the evening at a 
friend's house, taking a dead woman's arm, wliich he coolly 
unwrapped from a newspaper to the affright of his hostess. 
Tlie college was removed to the West End, where it has ac- 
quired a fearful notoriety in connection with a well-remembered 
tragedy enacted there. 

The Haymarket Theatrfe stood next south of Colonnade Row. 
This was an immense structure of wood, erected in 1796, and 



318 LANDMARKS OF B0ST0:T. 

opened December 26, of that year, by Powell, of the Federal 
Street. Powell had fallen out with the proprietors of the latter 
liOTise, and the llayniarket was liuilt hy his friends. It was 
designed to accommodate tlie middling interest, hut the town 
could not support two theatres. The property proved a poor 
speculation, and was demolished after standing six years only. 
The huge structure was said to have been the largest and hest- 
arrariged theatre in America ; Avhilc it stood it was a source of 
terror to the neighborhood from its lialnlity to take fire. 'Ko 
other theatrical enterprise AS'as started in Boston until the 
"Washington Garden entertainments, in 1819. 

The Haymarket opened Avith the " Belle's Stratagem." ]\Ir. 
J. A. Dickson, afterwards of the Federal Street, appeared on the 
boards here for the first time. He became, after his retirement 
from the stage, a well-known merchant in Cornhill, and accu- 
mulated a handsome fortune. I)ickson was the lirst agent in 
this country of Day and Martin's blacking. IMrs. Darley made 
her ilebuf at this theatre as Xarcissa in " Inkle and Yarico." 
There were a i)it, gallery, and three tiers of Ijoxes, with a liand- 
some saloon and minor conveniences for the audience. ]\Ir. and 
]\lrs. G. L. Barrett also appeared at this house, the latter making 
lier (fehiif as JNIrs. Beverly in the " Gamester." The following 
was the bill on the opening night at the Haymarket : — 

BELLE'S STRATAGEM. 

Doricourt, S. PowelL 

Sir George Toucliwood, Marriott. 

Flutter, C. Powell. 

Saville, J. H. Dickson. 

Gourtall, Taylor. 

Villars, A Yonii;^: Amoricau. 

Hardy, Simson. 

Letitia Hardy, Mrs. S. Powell. 

Lady Frances, Mrs. Hughes. 

Miss Ogle, Miss ILii-rison. 

Mrs. Ptaeket, JL-s. Simpson. 

The "Winthrop House and the adjoiiiiiig Freemason's HaU, 
Avhich madi- tin- corner of lioylston Street, were destroyed by 
hre in April, 18G4, which left nothing but the walls standing. 
The present grand temple of INlasonry succeeds to both the 



A TOUR ROUND THE COMMON. 319 

former. It is a magnificent monument of this angle of the 
Common. 

The Masonic Temple is not unworthily supported on the 
opposite corner by the Hotel Boylston, — a site which will never 
lose interest as the home of John (.^uincy Adams, sixth President 
of the United States. In the old mansiondiouse was born 
Charles Francis Adams, avIio has erected the splendid edifice 
W3 are regarding. 

Boylston Street was the ancient Frog Lane of the South End. 
Its route Avas the same as now, except that the sea washed the 
southerly end at the foot of the Common. We have remarked 
that the fathers of Boston were not particular about names. 
The future was veiled from them, and any peculiarity served 
their purpose. The amphibious croaker may have rendered the 
air of the neighborhood vocal with his evening song in the day 
of Adams or his neighbor Foster. Sloughs and mud-holes were 
common to the vicinity. It is recorded that one, both wide and 
deep, lay in front of ]Mather Byles's house. The selectmen were 
importuned to see to it without avail, until one morning a pair 
of them got their chaise stuck fast in the midst, when the par- 
son accosted them with, — " Well, gentlemen, I am glad to see 
you stirring in this matter at last." 

The " Old Man eloquent " is one of the honored names on 
the roll of the Boston Bar. The Athenaeum was enriched by 
his private library at a merely nominal sum. He studied law 
with Theophilus Parsons, and wrote poAverful political articdes 
under the signature of Publicola, in 1791, advocating neutrality 
with France. Minister to Holland, England, and Prussia, he 
was intimate Avith Burke, Fox, Sheridan, Pitt, and their con- 
temporaries of the period of the Frenc^h Eevolution. A mem- 
ber of the United States Senate from 1803 to 1808, his views 
on the measures of Mr. Jefferson Avere in conflict with those of 
Massachusetts, and he resigned. He Avas minister to Pussia in 
1809, and a commissioner at Ghent in 1815. Again minister 
to England in 1817, he became subse(]uently JVIr. INIonroe's 
Secretary of State, and his successor in *1 82-5. In 1831 he Avas 
returned to ' Congress, Avhere he continuetl until his sudden 



320 LANDMARKS OF BOSTON. 

(L'-cease in the Capitol in 1848. "This is tlie last of earth; I 
am content," were the last words he spoke. 

jMr. ^Vdanis was iiiiuistcr to liussia during the invasion of 
Bonaparte. When ipiestioned as to the Ijurning of JMo.scow, 
lie stated that Ijoth the Emperor and lvosto])chin, the governor, 
denied having ordered it. Had the government assumed the 
responsibility, they would have been obliged to indemnify the 
sulferers. 

In Miss Quincy's Memoir are some interesting personal recol- 
lections of Mr. Adams while at the court of JSt. Petersburg, 
.Said he : — - 

" I never saw Alexander on the throne. He was a man who cared 
little about thrones, and was one of the most complete repuljlicans, 
ia character and maimers, I have ever known. He used to walk the 
streets of St. Petersburg every day, and stop and talk to eveiy one 
he met. He was extremely popular, and I do not liclicvc he was 
canicd olt by tieachery. Alexander, during the whole of the war 
with Bonaparte, exposed himself as much as any of liis officers. At 
the cl<;se of that war he was undoul)tedly one of the first generals 
in Europe. Moreau was killed at his side by a camion-ball from the 
walls of Dresden." 

Speaking of ]\Ioreau's death, INIr. Adams observed : — 

" He was fighting against his country, which no man can ever be 
justilied in doing. A man, if he disapi)roves a government or a war, 
may remain rpdet and neutral ; l)ut nothing should ever induce him 
to take uji arms aijidusf Aw cininfrij. I saw Moreau's funeral at St. 
retersburg, which was attended with great pom]).'' 

The victor of Hohenlinden was excluded by decree from the 
ranks of the French army, July G, 1804, and under the surveil- 
lance of a colonel of gendarmes went to Cadiz, wdiere he em- 
barked for the United States. i\Ioreau was in America eight 
years, during Avbich he travelled extensively, visiting Boston 
anujng other places. Tlie veneralile William iMinot, of this 
city, stated, at a recent interview, that lie remembers seeing the 
general in a passing carriage while he was in Boston. He went 
to Niagara Falls, and d"escended the Ohio and Mississippi. A 
small alHueiit of the Missouri is named for him. 



A TOUU KOUXD THE COMMON. 321 

He lived for some time at ]\[orrisville, in Pennsylvania, in a 
lion.se purchased by him on the banks of the Delaware, — the 
most couspicnous in the place. The general was very affable 
and hospitable. He also resided in New York, where he was 
much consulted by American politicians, though he sedulously 
al^stained from party intrigue himself. After a residence of 
about eight years in the United States he returned to Europe, 
to engage in the strife then raging there. The American vessel 
which carried Moreau — this was in 1813 — Avas permitted to 
pass the blockade by Admii-al Cockburn, at the request of the 
liussian minister. 

His death-bed was attended by the King of Prussia, the 
Emperor of Austria, and Emperor Alexander, who manifested 
the deepest grief at his loss. ]\Ietternich, Schwartzenburg, and 
the allied generals visited him, and Alexander, who had a great 
friendship tor the dying general, held him a long time in his 
arms. The following is an extract of a letter to ]\[adame IMoreau, 
written by him, with a steady hand, Avhile sinking under the 
amputation of his limbs : — 

" My dear friend, at the battle of Dresden, three days ago, I had 
both legs carried away by a cannot shot. That scoun(hL'l, Bonaparte, 
iii always lucky." 

Charles Francis Adams passed his boyhood with his fiither 
at St. Petersburg, and while the elder Adams Avas minister at 
the court of St. James, the son Avent to an English school. He 
studied law in AVebster's office, and was admitted to the bar, 
but never practised. Mr. Adams, after ha\'ing edited a Boston 
ncAvspaper, and served in the legislature, was the candidate of 
the Free Soil party for the Vice-presidency in 1848. But Mr. 
Adams is best known by his diplomatic services at the same 
court Avliere his fother served so long. His conduct of delicate 
negotiations during the great civil Avar Avas such as to place him 
at the head of American diplomats. His services Avere recently 
required by our government in the negotiations at Geneva, 
arising from the Alabama and other claims. INIr. Adams mar- 
ried a daughter of Peter C. Brooks, a Avealthy citizen of Boston. 

In this corner of the Common, and adjoining the Burying- 
14* u 



LANDMARKS OF BOSTON". 



C J round on the oast, wore situated the hay-s-ales, after their 
removal from tln^ corner of West Sti'eet, and also a gundiouse ; 
the latter was transferred, in 1^20, to a h)cation near the i)resent 
Providence depot. It contained a laboratory, well furnished 
with warlike material. Tliere was also a laboratory on Pleasant 
Street, Ix'tween the corner of Poylston and Pfatf's Hotel, during 
the Pevolution, on what is now called Park Scpiare, and another, 
sul)se(|uently >ised hy Frothingham, Wheeler, and Jacolis as a 
carriage factory, and seen in the frontispiece. 

The first manufacture of duck was begun by an incc^rporated 
company in Boston, about 1790. They erected buildings on a 
large lot in Poylston Street, at the corner of Tremont. lu 

1792 they were in the full tide 
of success, employing four hun- 
dred operatives, and turning 
out fifty pieces a week of ex- 
cellent canvas. Here were man- 
ufactured the Constitution's 
sails, so that she was an Amer- 
ican ship throughout, except in 
her armament. The manufac- 
ture of cotton began in New 
England as early as 1G43, and calico printing was undertake.u 
in Boston before 1794. 

During the war of 1812 a numl)er of field-pieces belonging to 
the government were collectetl in this corner of the Common, 
and the city military took turns mounting guard over the park. 
The Xew England Guards, which were organized in 1812, per- 
formed their share of this duty, and several of the meml)ers, 
among whom was Al)1x)tt Lawrence, got their one hundred and 
sixty acres of land from the general government in requital for 
a certain term of servic^e liere, at the Charlestown Navy Yard, 
and at Xoddle's Island. Tliere Avere sixty-seven names on the 
muster-roll in 1814, and in IS-yO, after the lapse of nearly half 
a century, forty-three of the sixty-seven were still living, of 
whom a mere handful of aued men now survive. 




OLD LOOM. 



A TOUU ROUXD THE COMMON. 323 



CHAPTER XL 

A TOUR ROUND THE COMMOX CO\T[\UED. 

Common Buryiiig-Ground. — Joshua Bates. — Public Garden. — Ropewalks. 

— Toi)ograi)liy of the Connnon. — Briti.sli Troops on. — Description of tlieir 
Camps. — Tlie Liglit Horse. — Powder House. — Old Elm. — Witclioraft 
and Quaker E.xecutions. — The Duel in 1728. — Mill-Dam. — Mexican 
Volunteers. — Beacon Street. — Prescott. — Copley. — John Phillips. — 
Wendell Pliillips. — Robert C. Winthrop. — Hancock Mansion. — Governor 
Hancock. — General Clinton. — State House. — Public Statues, etc. — 
The Beacon. — The Monument. — Lafayette's Residence. — George Ticknor. 

— Malbone. — Samuel Dexter. — Incidents of Lafayette's Visit in 1824. — 
Josiah Quiucy, Jr. — Historical Resume. — Repeal of the Stamp Act. 

THE Common liurying-Ground has but little anticjuity com- 
pared with tlie Chapel, Cupp's Hill, or Granary Cemeterie.s. 
It was ojjened after these in 1756, and has, according to its 
changing relations with others, been called at various titues the 
South and Central Ground. 

Under Mayor Armstrong, the Boylstou Street INIall was car- 
ried across the foot of the Common, cutting off some of the 
tombs on that side of the graveyard. The owners of the 
vaults resisted the invasion of the sacred dust, Init the im- 
provement was accomplished Ity which Beacon and Tremont 
Street iNIalls were connected. 

Unsupported tradition has given to the Common Ground 
the credit of being first used for negro burials, but we find no 
better evidence of this than that some very thick skulls were 
dug up at a considerable depth from the surface. It is known, 
however, that this was the se])ulchre of such of the common sol- 
diers as died from disease during the British occupation, and of 
those who died from their wounds received at Bunker Hill. 
They were buried in a common trench, according to military 
custom, and many of the remains Avere exhumed when the ex- 
cavations were proceeding at the northwest corner of the yard. 



324 LANDMARKS OF BOSTON. 

Tlie officers wlio died of tlieir hurts at Bunker Plill were in- 
terre(l in tlie churclies and cemeteries, hastily, hut with greater 
decency. jVhmy of these have heen forwarded to their far- 
away liomes. 

"We cannot pass the Pubhc Library without an alhision to 
its great benefactor, Joshua Bates. This eminent Bostonian, 
who became the chief of tlie great house of the Barings in 
Loudon, was a poor boy, almost as humble as the least among 
those who daily benefit by his generosity. He attracted the 
attention of his })atrou, William Gray, Avhile dri\ing a load of 
stones on his father's team. His quick, ready replieti interested 
the merchant, Avho gaA'c him a })lace in his counting-house, 
whence graduated a hnancier second to none in the Old or 
New World. 

In the Public Library is a Bevolutionary relic of interest, 
which acquii'ed an even greater importance in connection with 
the Sanitary Commission in the war of Ilebellion. It is the 
original capitulation of Burgoyne at Saratoga, with the signa- 
tures iif thij king's commander, Kiedesel, and the lesser officers, 
English and Hessian, iu order of rank. 

"In vain they fouj^lit, in vain tliey flt-d ; 
Their chief, linniane ami tender, 
To save tlie rest, soon thonght it best 
His forces to surrender." 

Where now the Public Garden is teeming with beauty, 
nearly the whole extent of the ground Avas occupied by rope- 
Avalks, live in number. As you pass along Charles Street going 
in tlie direction of Beacon, these ropewalks stretched about 
three fourths of the distance, there meeting the water which 
washed Charles Street. On the other hand, they continued 
nearly to Eliot Street. Charles Street Avas divided from the 
Common aljout 1804. 

These ro|)ewalks Avere the successors of those in Pearl and 
Atkinson Streets, destroyed by tire in 1794. The toAvn granted 
the tract iu order to prevent the erection of new buildings in 
a district they endangered, as well as to render substantial aid 
to the unfortunate rope-makers ; they Avere again consumed in 



A TOUR ROUND THE COMMON. 325 

their new location in LSOG. The land wlicroon these rope- 
walks were situated Avas inarsli, or tlats, which iiuh'cd was 
the prior foiidition of nearly all that low ground ]io\v known 
as the parade of the Common. At high tides most of this 
tract was probably overHowech On the verge of it Avas a little 
elevation known as Fox Hill, long ago levelled to contribute to 
the filling of the marsh. As long ago as 1750 the town voted 
to lease these marshdands ; bnt if they were nscd, the purpose 
has not transpired. 

To continue the topography of this region of the Common, 
from the bottom of Beacon Street to Cambridge Bridge was a 
high bluff, similar to the headlands of the harbor islands ; the 
base washed ))y the river. Excellent springs, covered at high 
water, trickled along the beach. This eminence, known as West 
liill, was occupied by the British as a mortar-battery ; it has 
been reduced to a convenient grade, and employed in making 
Charles Street. It seems clear that the shore or beach once 
left this headland Avitli an inward sweep, southerly to the 
higher ground at the foot of Boylston Street. 

After the era of improvement Avas begun by the Mount 
Vernon proprietors,_ the hill Avas reduced by them. In this 
labor they employed the first railway used in I^eAv England, by 
an inclined ])lane, over which box cars conveyed their loads to 
tlie water at the foot of the hill. About this time a sea wall 
Avas built along Charles Street from Beacon to Boylston. 

To return to the ropcAA'alks. The town, in its generosity, 
invested the proprietors AA'ith a title Avhich might have forever 
prevented the existence of the Public CJarden, now properly a 
part and parcel of the Connnon. The rights of the j^roprie- 
tors were finally purcliased by the city. The question Avhether 
tlie city should sell these lands lying Avest of Charles Street, 
Avas, in 1824, negatiA^ed by the citizens, Avho thus decided to 
l)reserve the beautiful vicAV of the river and its shores beyond, 
noAA' obstructed by the ncAvly erected city of the Back Bay. In 
this manner- has been secured the Public Garden, — 

" Wliere opening roses In-eatliiiig sweets diffuse, 
Aud soft carnations shower their bahiiy dews ; 



32 G LANDMARKS OF BOSTON. 

Wlierc lilies smile in virgin robes of white, 
The thin iindres.s of superficial light, 
And varied tulips show so dazzling gay, 
Blushing in bright diversities of day, 
Each painted floweret in the lake below 
Surveys its beauties, whence its beauties grow." 

From the bottom of the Common tlie troops were embarked 
ill silence for Lexington, at about ten o'clock on the night pre- 
ceding the memorable 19th of April. On the Common were 
ari'ayed the forces engaged at Bunker Hill before they marched 
to the points of emljarkation. IMany a tall fellow heard the 
drums beat the rappel for the last time as he shouldered his 
firelock, and fell in the ranks on that eventful morning. 

Of the first troojis which the INIinistry despatched to Boston, 
the 29th went into camp on the Common for a short time, un- 
til they were quartered in various parts of the town. The 14th 
and the Train marched with the 29th to the Common from 
Long Wharf, but were assigned to other localities. On the 31st 
of October, 1768, took i)lace the first military execution ever 
witnessed in Boston. The doomed man was Eichard Ames, a 
private of the 14th; his crime, desertion. He Avas shot on the 
Common, both regiments being present under arms. Inter- 
cession was made with General (Jage to spare the man's life 
without avail. 

These were not the first troops to use the town training-field 
by many, but their coming marked an epoch in history. The 
provincial forces of Shirley and Pepperell enlivened the green 
sward in 1745 ; and in 1758, on the 13th January, General 
Andierst and his army, 4,500 strong, disembarked from their 
ships, and ]iitched their tents on the Common. This Avas the 
force destined to operate against Canada. At this time, and 
long afterwards, the British ofiicers wore bayonets. A portrait 
of General Wolfe is extant with a firelock slung at his back and 
the bayonet by his side. Burgoyne's officers also wore them 
when they came to Boston in 1777. 

The Highland Begiment, commanded by Colonel Fraser, ex- 
cited tire admiration of the town, which liad seen nothing like 
it before. Their colonel was the same who displayed such con- 



A TOUR ROUND THE COMMON. 327 

spicuous bravery at the battle of Stillwater in 1777, under 
Uurgoyne's command. In the crisis of the second day's battle 
General Morgan called some of his trusty riflemen, and, pointing 
out the gallant Briton, said to them : " That gallant officer is 
General Eraser. I admire and honor him, but it is necessary 
he shoidd die ; victory for the enemy depends U})on him. Take 
your stations in that clump of bushes, and do your duty." In 
a few minutes Fraser fell, mortally Avounded. He requested to 
be buried in a redoubt he had erected, which was accordingly 
done, under the hre of the American guns. The object of the 
burial-party being discovered, the firing ceased, except the oc- 
casional booming of a minute-gun in honor of the valor of the 
deceased soldier. Eraser's regiment was with Wolfe at the 
memorable ascent of the Heights of Abraham in 1759, and, 
under Murray, was engaged at the battle of Quebec in 1760. 

On the 2d July, 1774, the train of artillery from the Castle 
landed, and marched to the Common. On the 4th of October 
there were two regiments stationed here, and it continued there- 
after a permanent camp until the evacuation. Two companies 
were stationed in the mortar redoubt, and also held a smaU 
three-gun battery higher up on the slope of the hill. When 
the British departed, the thirteen-inch mortar from the battery 
was found lying on the beach, where it had been overturned, 
uninjured. Another of the same calibre, found sunk at the end 
of Long "WHiarf, was placed by the Americans in the South 
Battery. One of these lievolutionary relics was taken to 
Charlestown Navy Yard ; the other was mounted on the bat- 
tery at iS^ew York, tlie same year it was captured. Two twelve- 
poundei-s from the battery on Beacon Hill were also secured by 
the Americans. There were a few shot thrown into the British 
camp during the siege by an American floating battery, but no 
harm was done. 

The positions of the British defences and encampments on 
the Common during the winter of 1775 -7C were as follows : 
A small earthwork was thrown up at the northwest corner, a 
little higher up than the ]n-esent entrance on Charles Street ; 
this was designed for infantry, and held by a single company. 



oL'8 LAXDMAIIKS OF BOSTOiX. 

Tlie little ('l(!vation mentioned by the name of Fox Hill was 
nearly or quite surrounded l)y water at times, and was hence 
called the island ; on this was a small redoul^t. At the south- 
west corner, at a point at high-water mark, - — now intersected 
by Boylston Street extension, — was another lireastwork for 
infantry. South of this was a strong redoubt, which would be 
bisected by Mollis Street, were it extended to the shore as it 
then existed ; one front fliccd Pleasant Street, Avhile the other 
was along the tln'u beach. This formed the first line, the 
Pleasant Street redoid>t and the battery at the foot of ]>eacon 
Street being on the flanks. 

On the westerly slope of the hill overLioking the parade, and 
on which the llagstatt' is now situated, was a sipiare redoul)t, 
behind Avhich lay encamped a battalion of infantry ; to the east, 
and on a line with the easternmost point of tlie hill, were two 
half-moons for small arms, with a second battalion in its reai'. 
About o]iposite Carver Street, resting on the southwest corner 
of the Inirial-ground, was a bastioned work, directly across 
Poylston Street. This was the second line. On the hill for- 
merly known as Flagstaff" Hill, but now dedicated to the sol- 
diers' monument, the artilh'ry was parked, protected by intrench- 
nients. Inunediately behind this hill, stretching from the 
Ijurial-ground across to P>eacon Street Mall, were the camps of 
three battalions of infantry. Such were the dispositions to 
prevent a landing by the American forces under Washington. 
None of the works were formidable except the most southern, 
Avhich was connected with the lines on the Neck. The C'ommon 
was an intrenched camp, Avith a regular garrison of 1,750 men. 

The remains of the Ikitish works Avere A'isilile imtil the be- 
ginning of the century. Persons are still living Avho have seen 
the holes made by the soldiers for their kitchens, and the ditches 
on the hill Avhere the monument is to stand. 

The strength of the l]ritisli position may be inferred from 
the fact tliat Du C'oudray, an ex]ierienced French officer of 
artillery, engaged Ijy our commissioners to commantl that arm 
in our service, laughed long and heartily on A'icAving from Bea- 
con Hill the Avorks Avhicli the British had erected, and which 
they had so preci])itately abandoned. 



A TOUR KOUND THE COMMON. 329 

Behind the three-gun battery situated on Eeacon Hill were a 
ni;mber of ropewalks, bounding north on Myrtle Street, and 
occupied in Revolutionary times by Henderson Inches. This 
was the camp of the British Light Horse, who used the rope- 
walks as their stables, and the Old South as a riding-school. 
Belknap Street is now continued dir(!ctly through these rope- 
walks. The spur of Beacon Hill known as Mt. Vernon, and for 
which that street takes its name, was called Mt. Hoardam, and 
Mt. Whoredom, a difference merely of ortliography. We shall 
see that the military positions in and around the Common were 
presided over by some distinguished personages. 

In May, 1 706, an act was passed erecting a Powder House in 
the town, and one was built on the hill near the Frog Pond. 
There was another pond on the Common in early times called 
the Horse Pond, a stagnant pool of water long since tilled up. 
It was situated a little to the southeast of old Flagstaff' Hill, 
and was connected by a ditch with the river ; across the ditch 
a little foot-bridge was thrown. A third pond, to the westward, 
Avas called Sheehan's, from a man of that name hanged there. 
The Powder House referred to must not be confounded with 
the one at West Boston, — a much larger and better-built 
magazine. 

The superficial features of the Common, except in the in- 
stances pointed out, remain unchanged. The Mighty Elm yet 
rears its hoary front, and puts forth its verdure as of old. It 
is the only living though dumb Avitness of the pageants of 
Shirley, Amherst, Gage, and Howe. The life-current flows 
feebly through the limbs of this tree of trees, but still it stands, 
acknowledged monarch of its fellows. The green mists which 
in spring-time clothe the trees in the malls cloud but lightly 
the aged crest of the Old Elm. Kingdoms, empires, dynasties, 
have disappeared, yet the tree stands with its gnarled roots 
grasping its native earth, waiting in silent majesty the day 
when it shall be laid to its rest, full of honors and of years. 

The branches of the Old Elm, if Ave may believe tradition, 
have been adorned Avith strange fruit, such as Tristan L'Hermite 
dehghted to suspend from his master's forests. We knoAV tliat 



330 



land.aiai;ks of boston. 



AVilliam Tt()l)insnn and ^Marniaduke Stevenson, convicted Quak- 
ers, were Iiuu.l;- ujiiin the Comnion. Mary Dyar was reprieved 
after her foot was on the fatal ladder, tlu'ough the intercession of 
her son, and escaped to meet a similar fate the next year. The 
lifeless, forms of Margaret Jones, of Anne Ilibbins, and perhaps 




THL LLD FLM 



otlier victims of judicial murder, may have depended from these 
same limbs during the reign, of the witclicraft horrors. The 
remains of tliose wlio suffered at this time were tri'ated witli 
studied cruelty. Their bodies were refused tlieir friends, and 
even the pri\dlege of protecting their place of se])ulture A^'as 
denied. 

The best judges haA^e considered tlie age of tliis tree to be 
consideral)ly more tlian two hundred and fifty years. It ap- 
l)ears to have exceeded the usual term of maturity allotted to 
its si)ecies ; but artificial means, with great care £i)r its jireserva- 
tion, liave no doulit eked out its existi'uce. A terse biography 



A TOUR ROUND THE COMMON. 331 

of the tree is f.iuud on tlie entmnce to the enchisure, placed 
tliere hy Mayor Smith, luuk'r vvliose direction the fence "was 

erected : — 

THE OLD ELM. 

Tliis tree has been standing here for an xmknown period. It is 

believed to have existed before tlie settlement of Boston. 

being full grown in ]722. Exhibited marks of 

old age in 1792, and was nearly destroyed 

by a .storm in 18.32. Protected 

by an Iron Enclosure 

in \S'A. 
J. V. C. Smith, Mayor. 

It shouhl he mentioned, however, that a tradition has heen 
current which assigns to Captain Daniel Henchiuan — • the same 
wlio commanded a company of foot from Boston, in King 
Philip's war, and was also captain of the Ancient and Honora- 
hle Artillery Company in 1G76 — the honor of planting the 
Great Elm, six years earlier. Tliis, if true, woidd make the 
elm more than two hundred years okl. But the tree could 
liardly have attained, in fifty-two years, to the size represented 
on the earliest plan of the town. It is also worthy of remark 
that t!ie age of Liherty Tree, planted only si.xteen years after 
the settlement, was definitely known anil estaldished bj^ the 
Sons of Liberty, while we nowhere meet with any contempo- 
rary account of the planting of the Great Elm. 

The shooting of Matoonas, one of King Philip's sagamores, 
is chronicled in 1656. He was tied to a tree, — perhaps tliis 
very elm, — and met death with the stoical indifference of his 
race. 

There was, formerly, on the northerly side of the Great Elm, 
a cavity large enough to serve as a hiding-place for boys. This 
being filled with clay and covered with canvas, in process of 
time was closed up by the natural action of the tree. Known 
a hundred years ago as The Great Tree, and appearing full- 
grown a century and a half gone by, this venerable tree may, 
without dispute, claim to be the oldest inhabitant of Boston. 

Among the events with Avhich the history of tlie ('*onimon is 
connected is the duel fought near the Powder House, July 3, 



Oo2 LAXDMAliKS OF BOSTON. 

1728, at betAveen seven and eiglit o'clock in the evening. Both 
the combatants -were young men of the hi'st respectabiUty ; 
their names, Benjamin Woodbridge and lleiny Philhps. They 
fouglit with swiirds, the former being thrust through the body, 
■while his adversary received some slight wounds. Phillips was 
hurried away on board the Sheerness man-of-war, then lying in 
tlie harbor, by his brother Gillam Phillips, Peter Faneuil, and 
some others. The body of the unfortunate Woodbridge was 
found the next morning lying near the scene of the affray. Mr. 
(Sargent, better known as the " Sexton of the Old School," has 
given some interesting details of this affair. The Paneuils and 
Phillipses were connected by marriage, which accounts for the 
agency of Peter Faneuil in Henry l^hillips's escape. Young 
AVoodbridge lies in the Granary Burying-Ground. 

This duel gave rise to a new law, which decreed that the 
offender, upon conviction, should " l)e carried publicly in a cart 
to the gallows, with a rope about his neck, and set on the gal- 
lows an hour, then to 1)0 imprisoned twelve months without 
bail." Any person killed in a duel was denied " Christian 
Burial," and interred " near the usual ])lace of puljlic execution 
with a stake drove through the liody." Death was the penalty 
meted out to the survivor with the same vindictive pursuit of 
the senseless remains. 

When the liritish troops Avere first stationed in the town, 
they had a hospital at the bottom of the Common ; it took fire 
and was nearly consumed in ]\Iay, 17G9. There Avas also, at a 
later period, a guard-house in the same locality. 

Public executions liaA'e occurred at the bottom of the Com- 
mon, at or near the foot of lieacon Street, the criminals being 
hastily buried in the loose graA'el of the beach. So carelessly 
Avas this performed that an eycAAntness relates that he has seen 
tluv corpse of one A'ictim disinterrtMl by the sea, Avitli the mark 
of the hangman's noose still Aasil)le. 

The ]\rill-Dam, or Western Avenue, is fast losing its distinc- 
tive features of yore, and shaping itself into a boulcA'ard, bor- 
dered in its AAdiole extent by residences. It AA^as the greatest 
undertaking in its day Boston had witnessed ; Ave may even 



TOUli ROUND THE COMMON. 333 

douht whether the far-seeing Mr. Cotting perceived it to be the 
Ihvst step towards converting the Back Bay into terra Jinna. 

The work was begun in 1818 by the Boston and lloxbury 
Mill Corporation, but Mr. Cotting did not live to see its com- 
pletion, Colonel Loammi Bakhvin succeeding hiin as engineer. 
In our Introduction we have given a very brief account of this 
thoroughfare. Laborers were brought from Ireland specially to 
be employed on it, and it was opened with due ceremony. A 
cavalcade of citizens crossed from the BrookHne shore, and were 
received by the inhabitants on the Boston side. 

Many recollect the entrance into the city of the INIassachu- 
setts Volunteers after the Mexican war. They were almost 
literally in rags, and it was not until the charitable hands of 
Boston ladies had supplied needful clothing that the regiment 
was able to march into town. Their appearance indicated little 
of the " pomp and circumstance," but much of the hard usage 
and bad rations, of glorious war. 

We may now pvirsue our way up the ascent of Beacon Street 
and its neighboring mall. The expense of this mall was de- 
frayed from a fund raised liy subscri})tion to erect fortifications 
(hiring the war of 1812, then remaining in the hands of the 
town officers. 

" Here aged trees cathedral walks compose, 
And mount the hill in venerable rows." 

The name of Beacoii Street was applied very early to that 
portion north and east of the State House, and to the westerly 
part before the Bevolution. At this time there were not more 
than three houses between Charles Street and the upper end 
of the Common, the Joy house, when built, making the fourth. 
The rest of the hill was covered with small cedars and native 
slu'ubbery, with here and there a cow-path, through which the 
herds ranged unmolested. 

The home of Prescott, the eminent historian, was at 55 
Beacon Street. A deeper interest attaches to the labors of the 
gifted author on account of his partial blindness, caused by an 
injury to his eye while at Harvard. All eiiorts b<ith at home 
and abroad failed to improve his sight, and his literary work had 



3-34 LANDMARKS OF BOSTON. 

to be performed witli the aid of an amanuensis, though ha 
occasionally wrote with a stylus on a Avriting- frame prepared ex- 
pressly for him. IS'.o library can be called complete that does 
not contain " Ferdinand and Isabella," " The Conquest of 
Mexico," "Peru," and "Charles the Fifth." He died before 
completing his Philiii IL, whicli he had intended to make his 
greatest work. Mr. J'rescott was the grandson of the old 
soldier of Louisburg and Bunker Hill, and by a coincidence 
married a granddaughter of that Cajttain Linzee who com- 
manded the Falcon at the battle just named. Ho was a 
1). C. L. of Old Oxford, and member of many of the learned 
societies of Europe and America. 

The mansion of the late David Sears, now a club house, is 
rendered interesting as the site of the home of John 8. Copley, 
the distingaiished American painter. Copley owned the greatest 
estate in Boston, embracing eleven acres, in which were included 
the reserved six acres of Blackstone. Walnut Street was the 
eastern boundary, Pinckney Street its northern, and the l)ay its 
westerly limit. On the nortliAvest corner of the tract stood the 
old Powder House to which we have referred. It Avas built in 
1774, remote from the position of the former magazine near the 
Clreat Tree, Avhere it had been exposed to accidents on days of 
public rejoicing. The walls Avere of Braintree granite, seven 
feet thick, Avith bomb-proof arch. It Avas surrounded by pali- 
sades, and Avas estimated to contain, Avhen full, a thousand bar- 
rels of })owder. Near it Avas a Avatchdiouse. 

Co})ley Avas in a certain sense a pupil of Smibert, the Avorks 
of that artist having been his first studies. He married a 
daughter of Pichard Clarke, a rich merchant, and one of the 
obnoxious tea-consignees. The ])ainter acted for the consign- 
ees in one of the conferences Avith the toAvn crimmittee. The 
Clarkes had a store in King Street, and lived in the Cooke 
mansion, previously deserilied, in School Street. The house 
was A^isited by a mob, and the Clarkes Avith the other con- 
signees retired for safety to the Castle. 

In the old tAvo-story house Avhich formerly stood here Cop- 
ley painted some of his betit ])ictures, probably those of Han- 



A TOUR ROUND THE COM},IOX. 



335 



cock and Adams among the number. Here also Cliarles W. 
Peale, father of Eembrandt Pcale, studied with Copley in 
1768. In 1774, leaving his family in Boston, Copley went to 
England, where he at once gained an advanced rank among the 




THE SEARS ESTATE. 



Eritish painters. His Death of Lord Chatham established his 
fame, and his large picture of the >Siege and Relief of Gibraltar 
was hung in Guildhall, London. He died suddenly in 1813. 

Dunlap relates that Copley's death was thought to have been 
hastened by the following circiimstance : — • 

" Some American speculator who was acquainted with the superb 
situation of Copley's house in Boston, overkxjking the beautiful 
green and parade called the Common, made an ofler to tlie painter 
for the purchase, which, in comparison to the value of property in 
former days in Boston, seemed enormous. Copley eagerly closed 



336 LANDMARKS OF BOSTON". 

wiili liim, and sold the property for a song enmpared with its real 
value. Shortly after, he, learning it was W(jrth twenty times the 
money he had sold it for, tried to undo the bargain, and sent his 
lawyer son t(j B(;ston f_)r tlie purpose, but it was too late." 

The following is tlie liistory of tins transaction. In 1798 
Colonel "William Hull, being in London, bought of Copley all 
his tract of land west of the Beacon Hill. About the same 
time Gardiner Greene, Copley's son-indaw and agent, sold the 
same property to Harrison Gray Otis and Jonathan Mason. 
The other claimants at length compromised with Colonel Hull, 
and the conveyance was made liy the younger Copley in 177G, 
wdien he came to the United States. The society of the future 
Chancellor of Great Britain was much cotirted dttring his visit 
to Boston and New York. The elder Co2)ley never returned to 
his native city. 

Trumbull describes Copley as an elegant looking man, dressed 
in line maroon cloth coat with gilt buttons. Besides being a 
painter, Copley was an engraver, having exectited a }Hirtrait of 
liev. William AVelsteed of Boston. Tliis knowledge served him 
in good stead in London. Co])ley, with West, was one of 
Trumbull's siu'eties when the latter was thrown into prison in 
London. 

Lord Lyndhurst said his father was his OAvn master, and 
entirely devoted to his art to the last year of his life, and that 
he never saw a decent picture, except his own, until he was 
thirty. Sully's opinion of Copley was that he was e<iual "in 
all respects bitt one to AVest ; lie had not so great des]);dch, but 
then he was more correct, and did not so often repeat him- 
self." 

Tlie adverse criticism upon Copley's pictures was that they 
wa^re crude in coloring, and waided ease and naturalness. His 
historical paintings Avere a collection of portraits wdtliout action, 
but his draperies were considered exquisite. Dr. Dibdin con- 
sidered his portraits admirable, but too stiff and stately. A 
catalogue of the existing works of this eminent native artist 
is now^ being ]n-e])are(l by Mr. Atigustus T. Perkins of Boston. 

Genend Knox lived in the Copley House, after tlie war, for 



A TOUR ROUND THE COMMON. 337 

.1 short time. The old mansion fronted Beacon Street, and had 
hne grounds antl a stable attaclied. 

David Sears inheritetl a large fortune from his fatlier, and, go 
■where you will in Boston, you will hnd monuments of his 
wealth and enterprise. He commanded the Cadets previous 
to the war of 1812, as well as since that time. His mansion 
was long the admiration of the town. Some beautiful panels 
in the front were executed l)y Willard. 

Harrison Gray Otis erected a handsome residence next west 
of the Sears estate ; Judge Cushing's adjoined it on the east, 
and was the second of the three houses mentioned as consti- 
tuting Beacon Street. 

The house at the corner of Walnut Street Avas built by Hon. 
John Phillips, first Mayor of Boston, State Senatoi*, and Judge 
of the Court of Common Pleas. He was nephew to Lieutenant- 
CJovernor William Phillips, and father of Wendell Phillips, the 
celebrated antislavery orator of Boston. His maiden speech on 
this question was made in Faneuil Hall in 1837, twenty-four 
years before the antagonism between the Xorth and South cul- 
minated in civil war. Unlike most reformers, he has lived to 
see the triumph of the prin(;iples to which he devoted the best 
years of his life. ]\Ir. Phillips possesses the natural gift of 
elofpience, and stands hardly rivalled as a speaker by any con- 
temporary. 

This mansion, now considerably altered in its exterior ap- 
pearance, was next the residence of Thomas L. Winthrop, 
lieutenant-governor of Massachusetts from 182G-32, who died 
in 1841. He was father of the Hon. Eobert C. Winthrop, who 
has l)een prominently connected with most of the societies for 
the advancement of science, art, and literature, and whose ser- 
vices in many fields of usefulness are fully acknowledged by 
his fellow-citizens. ]\Ir. Winthrop's mother was a daughter of 
Sir John Temple, and he is, therefore, by this marriage, a 
great-grandson of Governor Bowdoin. The statue to Franklin, 
iu School Street, is the product of his suggestion ; and, at i;;s 
inauguration, he delivered an address on the life and character 
of the great Bostonian. 

15 V 



Oo8 LANDMARKS OF BOSTON. 

On the opposite corner of Walnut Street was tlie residence 
of B. P. Homer, a liiglily resjiected mercliant. In the rear 
of Mr. Homer's, on "W^ihiut Street, was the liouse in which 
Dr. George Parkman hved at the time of his murder by Web- 
ster in 1849. 

Joy Street recalls the name and estate of Dr. Jolni Joy, ex- 
tending between this thorouglifare and Walnut Street, and 
Beacon and Mt. Vernon Streets. Dr. Joy was an apothecary 
in Washington Street, at the corner of Spring Lane. It is 
related that Ids wife was much averse to a removal so far out 
of town as Beacon Street then was, and exacted a promise from 
the Doctor to return into the town at no distant day. In that 
day a residence in Williams Court was considered iar more 
eligible. The doctor built a wooden house on the hill back 
from Beacon Street, which was ultimately removed to South 
Boston Point. 

Xext to the corner of Joy Street lived Samuel T, Armstrong, 
another of Boston's chief magistrates, of whose improvement 
of the Common we have recited several instances. He was the 
son of the lievolutionary soldier, John Armstrong. Mr. Arm- 
strong was lieutenant-governor of Massachusetts in 183G. He 
had in former years been a bookseller in State Street, at the 
corner of Flagg Alley, — the firm being Belcher and Armstrong, 
— and then at No. 50 in Old Coriihill, the site of Paul Eevere's 
shop. This vicinity took the name of Booksellers' How, from 
the number of that trade there congregated. 

Before you come to the grounds of the State House, two 
freestone residences attract your notice. These showy edifices 
have displaced one of the noblest private mansions of the Colo- 
nial period, built by Thomas Hancock in 1737, and given to 
his nephew, the governor, by his auiit, Lydia Hancock. The 
house long remained a unique featiu-e of the surroundings of 
the Common, initil it became too anticpiated for modern ideas, 
and too valual^le. The front of the estate embraced from Mt. 
Vernon Street, given to the town by the governor, to Joy 
Street, formerly Cdapboard, and since Belknap Street. All of 
the State House and ]«irt of the Keservoir ground, including Han- 



A TOUR ROUND THE COMMOX. 



339 




HANCOCK MANSION. 



cock Avenue, Mt. Vernon Place, and a part of Hancock Street, 
in which was situated 
his nursery, belonged 
to the Hancocks. The 
site of the State House 
Avas Hancock's pasture ; 
and gardens and or- 
chards surrounded this 
truly princely mansion. 

The buihling was of 
stone, built in the sub- 
stantialmauner favored 
by the wealthier Bos- 
tonians. The walls 
were massive. A Ijal- 
cony projected over the 
entrance - door, upon 
wliich opened a large window of the second story. The cor- 
ners and window-openings were ornamented with Braintree 
■ stone, and the tiled roof was surmounted by a balustrade. Dor- 
mer windows jutted out from the roof, from which might be 
obtained a view as beautiful as extensive. A low stone wall 
l)rotected the grounds from the street, on which was placed a 
light wooden fence, with gate-posts of the same material. A 
paved walk and a dozen stone steps conducted to the mansion, 
situated on rising ground at a little distance back from the 
street. Before the door was a wide stone slab, worn by the 
feet of the distinguished inhabitant and his illustrious guests. 
A wooden hall, designed for festive occasions, sixty feet in 
length, was joined to the northern wing ; it was afterwards re- 
moved to Allen Street. 

"As you entered the governor's mansion, to the right was the 
drawing or reception room, with furniture of bird's-eye maple cov- 
ered with rich damask. Out of this opened the dining-hall referred 
to, in which Hancock gave the famous breakfast to Admiral D'Estaing 
and his officers. Opposite this was a smaller ai)aitment, the usual 
'lining-hall of the fanuly ; next adjoining were the cluna-room and 
offices, with coach-huuse and barn behind. 



340 LANDMARKS OF BOSTON. 

"At the left of tlie entrance was a second saloon, or family draw- 
ing-rodiii, the walls covered with crimson ^"'aper. The ui>i)er and 
lower halls were hung with pictures of game, hunting-scenes, and 
olher suhjects. Passing through this liall, another flight of steps led 
through the garden to a small summer-house close to Mt. Vernon 
Street. The grounds were laid out in ornamental flower-beds bor- 
dered with liox ; Ijox-trees of large size, with a great variety of 
fruit, among which were several immense mulberry-trees, dotted the 
garden." 

Such is the description given liy Miss Eliza G. Gardner, many 
years an inmate of the Ilancock House. 

This was the house pillaged by tlie soldiers about the time 
of the battle of Lexington, who also broke down and mutilated 
the fences, until, on comphxint of the selectmen, General Gage 
sent Percy to occupy it. It is also stated that in the previous 
niontli of jNIarch IJritish olHcers liad set an example to the men 
by hacking tlie fences Avith their swords, breaking windoAVS, 
etc. A few days afterwards Hancock was again intruded ui>on 
by his red-c(iated neighbors, who refused to retire from his 
l)remises at his rei[i. ^st, and mockingly told him his poss;'ssions 
would soon be theirs. 

At this time (lage had an order from the king for Hancock's 
appndiension, but he feared to meet the issue ; a second order 
directed him to hang the ])atriot. The Avratli against Hancock 
escajjed in a A^ariety of Avays more harmless. One of the eifa- 
sions indited to the patriot reads thus : — 

"As for their king, John Hancock, 
And Adams, if they 're taken, 
Their lieads for signs shall hang np high 
Upon tluit lull ealle(t Jieacon." 

The Hancock House T)ecame the quarters of General Clinton 
Avliile he remained in Ijoston ; he took command at Charles- 
town, September, 1775. Uoth house and stables Avere in part 
occupied l)y tlie Avounded from liunker Hill. The house, Iioaa- 
OA^er, received no important injury during th(^ occupation, the 
furniture shoAving but little signs of ill-usage, and the iiictures 
remaining untouched. 

In tliis liouse Hancock had entertained D'Estaing in 1778, 



A TOUR ROUND THE CO.M.MOX. 341 

Lafayette in 1781, Wasliington in 1789, Brissot, cliief of the 
Girondists, and, in later times, Lords Stanley and Wortlcy, and 
Labouchiere and Bougainville. 

D'Estaing rested under a cloud for his desertion of our forces 
in lihode Island, but was, nevertheless, hospitably entertained 
by Hancock. - Al)out forty of the French officers dined every 
day at the governor's table, for he was a generous host. On one 
occasion an unusual number assembled to partake of the gov- 
ernor's viands, when, in the language of Madam Hancock, " the 
Common vv'as bedizened with lace." The cooks were driven to 
despair, and the exigency was only met Ity milking the cows on 
the Common. We do not learn whether this was acceptable to 
the owners of the cows. The Count requited the governor's 
entertainments by a grand dinner on board liis ship. The 
governor's lady, seated near her host, Avas requested to pull a 
cord, which was the signal for a discharge of all the guns of 
the squadron. The good dame confessed herself surprised at 
this coup de theatre. 

Brissot was astonished to fiml the governor in friendly con- 
verse with " a hatter " (Nathaniel Balch). Balch was a great 
favorite of the governor's. He was a " fellow of infinite jest," 
majestic in appearance, benevolent, and of sterling worth. His 
"witticisms never failed " to set the table in a roar." Loring 
relates that when Hancock had occasion to go into the district 
of Maine on an official visit, he was attended by Hon. Azor 
Orne of his council, and his old friend Balch. Tlieir arrival 
at Portsmouth, X. H., was thus humorously announced : — 

" Ou Thursday last, arrived in this to\ni, Kathaiiiel Balch, Esq., 
accoiiipauied bv His Excellency John Hancock, and the Hon. Azor 
Orne." 

When Hancock was dying he called his old friend Balch to 
his bedside, and dictated to him the minutes of his will, in 
which he expressly gave his mansiondiouso to the Common- 
Avealth. Death intervened before this intention could bo carried 
out. 

A strong effort was made to save this old Xew England mon- 
ument, but without avail. It was proposed by Governor Banks, 



342 LANDMARKS OF BOSTON. 

in 1859, that the Ctunmonwcahh shouhl purchase it, and the 
heirs ottered it at a hjw vahiaiion. A joint eunimittee of the 
LegisLature reported favorably \ipon the measure, hut it met 
Avith strong opposition from tlie rural districts, and was defeated. 
Suggestions were offered to make it the residence of the gov- 
ernors, or a museum for the collection of IJevolutionary relics. 
The house was in excellent preservation, the interior wood-work 
heing sound as when the halls echoed to the tread of the did 
governor. The chamber of Lafayette remained as when he 
slept in it ; the apartment in which Hancock died was intact ; 
the audience-hall was the same in which Washington, D'Estaing, 
Brissot, the Percy, and many more had stood ; and, finally, the 
entrance-hall, in which for eight days the dead patriot lay in 
state, opened upon tlie 1)road staircase as in the time of old 
Thomas and Lydia Hancock. 

State action failing, some eflorts were made liy the city, in 
18G3, to secure the relics of the building itself. The heirs 
offered the mansion, with the pictures and some other olijects 
of historical interest, as a free gift, with the design of preserv- 
ing it as a memento of Colonial and Ifevolutionary history. It 
was proposed to take it down and erect it anew on some other 
site. Few will regret that such an historical anachronism was 
not committed. The building was pulled down, and with it 
disappeared the only monument to the memory of John Han- 
cock. 

Governor Hancock entered the Latin School in 1745. He 
went to England when quite young, where he Avitnessed the 
coronation of the monarch Avho afterwards set a price upon his 
head. President of the Provincial Congress in 1774, t>f the 
Continental Congress in 177*), he first affixed his bold auto- 
graph to the Declaration of Independence, and it thus circu- 
lated upon tlie floor of Congress. We find him acting as 
moderator at a toAvn-UKM'ting in 1778, the same year he was 
a])pointcd major-general of the, ^lassachusetts militia. We have 
seen liim jiresiding over and directing the action of the conven- 
tion which ratified tlie Federal Constitution, and at the peace, 
the choice of the peo})le of his native State as their chief 



A TOUR KOUND THE COMMON. 343 

magistrate. Hancock died sincerely regretted. If lie had some 
conspicuous faults, tliey were more than counterbalanced hy liis 
many noble qualities. 

Hancock was tall, nearly six feet, and thin. In later years 
he stooped a little, and was a martyr to the gout. In his attire 
he was a type of the fine gentleman of his day, — a scarlet coat, 
riclily embroidered, with rullies of the finest linen, being his 
onlinary dress. 

We give herewith a fac-simile of the much-admired auto- 
graph of Governor Hancock appended to a ticket of the lottery 
authorized by law for the rebuilding of Faneuil Hall after the 
fire of 17G1. The enuraviu;f is of the exact size of the originaL 



Bos TOM June 1765. * 

FanemU^^SK LOTTERY, No. Five. * 

^nr HE Poffcffor of this Tickei (No 3^{^S^ ) ^ 

J^ it iatitlcd to ai^ Prize drawn again(t faid ^ 

Number, to a Lottery granted by an Aft of ^ 

the Genera I Court of the Prormcc of xht/yjafachufettt- ^ 

Bay, for Rebaildiog FA)iEUii,-HAt.b ; fubjc^ to so 

Dcdaftioo. 




^^^riU^^ 



FANEUIL HALL LOTTERY TICKET. 



We have reached the highest point of the city, and can 
leisurely contemplate the immense pile of the State House, 
with its glistening dome, which fitly crowns the view of Bos- 
ton as you approach by land or water. It is another monument 
to the genius of Charles Ihdfinch, by wliom it was designed. 
Were we to ascend to tlie cupola we should see a panorama 
spread before us which even the famed Neapolitan seaport can 
hardly surpass. But of Old Boston, as it stood when the first 
Legislature assembled in the Capitol, we should fijid but little 
remaining. 



u44 LANDMAltKS OF BOSTON. 

l)r. Ildlmes lias said in liis "Autocrat," — 

" Boyton State House is the liuli of tlie solar system. You 
couldn't pry that out of a lio-ton man if you had the tire of all 
creation straightened for a crowbar." 

This expression thus applied only to the State House, but 
since nioditied into the " Hub of the Universe," is now gener- 
ally tised in connection with Hoston itself, until the Bostonian 
abroad lias become familiar and even content with hearing 
bis native or adopteel city styled the " Hub " from Maine to 
California. 

The State House tract was ])asscd by the town to tlie Com- 
monwealth in 1795 ; the nominal consideration Avas live sliil- 
lings. Samuel Adams laid the coriier-stouc July 4 of the 
same year, dedicating it forever to lil)ei-ty and the rights of 
man. In 1798 it was coinplet(?d, and occupied by the legisla- 
ture, Increase Sumner being then governor. The building re- 
ceived enlargement in 1855, wliicb cost considerably more than 
the original edifice. 

The adornment of our public grounds with statues of dis- 
tinguished men is becoming a feature of Boston. "Washington, 
I'ranklin, Webster, jMaiin, Everett, Hamilton, and the dis- 
coverer of America have effigies in bronze or marble in their 
honor. But Avhere are tlic statues to Hancock, Otis, the 
Adamses, Quincy, and the rest 1 

A copy in plaster of Houdon's AVashington, at Bichmond, 
Va., is in the vestibule of the AtheiKvum, as is also a i)laster 
model of the statue of Bowditch by Ball Hughes. The tiguire 
of the Saviour on the apex of the pediment of the Church of 
the Immaculate C()nce]ition is a copy from Thorwaldsen. The 
Aristides and Columbus in Louislnirg Siiuare are specimens 
of Italian art, and Avcre imported by ]\Ir. lasigi. The statue 
of Hamilton in granite in Commonwealth Avenue is by Dr. 
Bimnier, and is believed to have been the first in the country 
cut from that material. There are also three tyiiical figures in 
granite on the front of Horticultural Hall, representing Florap 
Ceres, and Pomona. These are by ^[iluKU-e. 

The lu'onze statue of "Webster in the State House grounds ia 



A TOUR ROUND THE COMMON. 345 

l>y Powers. It was the second executed by the artist, the first 
]jeing lost at sea while eu route froiu Legliorn. Tlie woik 
liardly I'ldlilled tlie expectations of Mr. Webster's a(huirers, or 
the hopes founded on the lugh reputation of the sculi)tor. It 
was first placed in the vestibule of the Athenieuni, until removed 
to its present position by consent of the Legislature. 

The statue of Horace Mann was cast in Munich, and is the 
work of Miss Stebbins. The fund was raised by the contri- 
butions of school-children and teachers througliout the State. 
The State paid for the pedestal. 

In the vestiljule are tlie statues of Governor Andrew and 
of Washington. The latter was placed in the State House in 
1827, and is by Sir 1\ Chantrey. The idea originated with 
gentlemen of Boston who had been associated with A\^ashing- 
ton in public life. They organized under the name of the 
Washington Monument Association, and tirst intended to erect 
an equestrian statue, — a purpose which want of sufficient funds 
obliged them to abandon. The jmse of the figure is majestic 
and at the same time without stilfness ; the military cloak 
thrown across the shoulders gives an ease and grace to the 
whole design. Chantrey began as a carver climbing to emi- 
nence in art from the lowest round of the ladder. 

The torn and battle-stained colors of the ]\Iassachusetts 
regiments are here gathered in the keeping of the Common- 
wealth. In life, Governor Andrew })resented most of these flags ; 
his statue is their apjiropriate guardian. 

In the lower halls are also placed the tablets from the monu- 
ment formerly on the summit of Beacon Hill. They are four 
fi'et four inches long, and three • feet three inches Avide. The 
gilt eagle Avhieh perched upon the top of the column has found 
a ])lace over the Speaker's chair, in the Hall of Eepresentatives. 
A l)ust (if Samuel Adams is affixed to a niche in the wall; and 
the alcove in which stands the Chantrey statue is flanked l)y 
two brass cannon consecrated to the A'alor of Isaac I)avis and" 
John Buttrick, two heroes of the battle of Lexingtmi. 

On the 2()th of August, 1(S24:, Lafiyette received the citizens 
of Boston in the lower hall ; and on the next day a second 
15* 



346 LANDMARKS OF BOSTON. 

reception was given by the distinguished Frenchman. Xo 
gTcater crowds ever tlirunged to do homage to any visitor in 
tlie halls of the Capitol. On tliis occasion the national stand- 
ard was displayed for the first time from the cupola. 

When the General was again in Boston in 1825, to assist at 
the laying of the corner-stone of Bunker Hill jNIonument, the 
Legislature resolved to invite him to meet it in the Hall of 
liepresentatives, and requested ex-Governor Lincoln to address 
him on the occasion. The General was received by both 
houses in joint convention on the IGth of June, Governor 
Lincoln in the kSpeaker's chair. Among the distinguished guests 
was Mr. Barbour, United States Secretary of War. 

In the Senate Chamljer are portraits of the old Colonial 
governors Endicott, Winthrop, Leverett, Bradstreet, and Bur- 
net. A fine portrait of Governor Sumner, presented by ( ieneral 
W. H. Sumner, hangs aljove the President's chair. There are 
also poi'traits of Francis Iligginsou, first minister of Salem, 
and of Iioliert Bantoul. 

(Jn the front of the gallery are some interesting relics of the 
battle of Bennington, presented by General John Stark. They 
are a musket, drum, a heavy trooper's sword, and grenadier's 
cap with the curious conical brass plate, on Avhich, as well as 
the 1)rass plate of the drum, is embossed the emblematic horse 
of the I)uchy of Westphalia. 

Underneath is the letter of acceptance written by order of 
the General Assembly, and signed by Jeremiah Powell, Presi- 
dent of the Council. 

Besides these are two old firelocks, liequeathed to the State 
by liev. Theodore Parker. One of them has the maker's name 
on the lock-plate, " Grice, 1762," and an inscription on the butt 
as follows : — 

" The First Fire Arm, 

Captured in tlie 
War for Iiulej)endence." 

The other is more antirpiated in appearance. It has the donor's 
name on the lock-plate, and an inscription on the breech wliich 
reads, — 



A TOUll ROUND THE COMMON. 



547 




" Tliis Firearm was used by 

Capt John Parker 

in the Battle of Lexington 

April 19th 

1775." 

In connection with, the State House we present an en- 
graving of the desk, long used in the Old State House by- 
successive speakers of the House of liepresentatives. On the 
removal of the Legislature from 
their time-honored place of meet- 
ing, this desk was deemed too an- 
tiquated for further service. It 
is now one of the interesting me- 
morials of the colony in the keep- 
ing of tlie Historical Society. The 
chair is a relic of Plymouth Col- 
ony, having belonged to Governor 
Edward AVin.slow, and is also de- 
posited with the same society. 

Let us contrast for a moment 
the spacious halls of legislation and conveniences of the New 
State House with the conhned limits of the Old, and let John 
Adams describe the famous Councd Chamber of the latter as 
he saw it in 1768. 

" The same glorious portraits of King Charles II. and King 
James II., to which might be added, and should be added, little 
miserable likenesses of Governor Winthrop, Governor Bradstreet, 
Governor Endicott, and GoA'ernor Belcher, hung uji in obscure 
corners of the room. Lieutenant-Governor Hutchinson, Comniauder- 
in-Chief in the aljsence of the Governor, must l)e placed at the head 
of the council table. Lieutenant-Colonel Dabyniple, Comman<lor- 
in-Chief of his Majesty's military forces, taking rank of all his 
Majesty's counsellors, must be seated by the side of the Lieutenant- 
Governor and Commander-in-Chief of the province. Eiglit-and- 
twenty counsellors must be painted, all seated at the council-board. 
Let me see, what costume 1 What was the fashion of that day in 
the month of March ? Large white wigs, English scarlet cloth 
cloaks, some of them with gold-laced hats, not on their heads, in- 
deed, ui so august a presence, but on a table before them. Bel'ore 



SPEAKER S DESK, AND WINSLOW S CHAIR. 



348 laxd:,lai;ks oi' boston. 

tlie.su illiiBtrious persoiuiges appeared Samuel Atlams, a meniLer of 
the House of Repreiseiitatives, and their clerk, now at the head of 
the great assembly at the Old South Church. Thucydides, Livy, 
or fSallust Avould make u speech for him, or perhaps the Italian 
Botta, if he had known anything of this transaction, one of the most 
iniiiortant of the Revolution ; l)ut I am wholly incapahle of it ; 
and if I had vanity enough to think myself capable of it, should not 
dare to attempt it." 

Tlie portraits referred to by tlie veneraljle writer Mere full 
lengths, attril)uted to Vandyke, but evidently erroneously, as 
these inonarclis were minors Avlieu Vandyke died. Oovernur 
I'ownall, in Avliuse time they Avere sent over, ])Ia('ed tliem in 
some obscure corner, where tliey remained until (lovernor 
Ijernard discovered and mounted them in elegant frames, and 
hung tliem in the Council Chamlter. 

In the State Library is a tine original portrait of General 
(Sage, ])resented to the State by General W. H. Sumner, be- 
tween whom a]id the llritish general's wife it will be remem- 
bered a relationship existed. The last of the royal governors' 
is separated from fellowsliip with liis illustri(jus predecessors. 

Suspended from the ceiling of the Representatives' Chamber 
is the ancient symliol of Massachusetts, tlie codtisb, which has 
been a greater source of wealth than the mines of Calift)rnia. 
The same tisli, which the reader may see upon one of the 
colony stamps we have represented in a })revious chapter, hung 
in the old hall in State Street, but was taken doAvn, and was 
not restored until after the ]ieace, when, on the motion of John 
liowe, it was again disp ayed before the assend,)led wisdom of 
the Commonwealth. 

Jolm Davis, the intrepid navigator of Queen Elizabeth's 
reign, was on our coast in 1585, in search of a northwest pas- 
sage, and records his experience of the great schools of codfish 
lie encountered. Davis discovered the well-known straits to 
Avhi('li liis name has ever since been a])plie(l. He says: — 

"Wei' becing vn]irouided of fishing iui'iiitiiie, witli a long spike 
nayle mailc a, liokc, and fastening the same tn one nl' niir sounding 
lyiies iSi'I'iirc the liaytc was chaiigi'd wee lonki' more than fortie 
great cods, the iislie suimmiiig so abouiKhinlly thicke about our 



A TOUR EOrXD THE COMMON. 



549 



barke as is incrediLle to be reported of, wbicli, with a sm:ill portion 
of saltc that wee had, wee preserued some thirtie couple, or there 
aboutes, and soe returned for P]ngl;uid."' 

The summit of Beacon Ilil], on Avhich stood the ancient 
Pharos of Boston, is intersected by Temjile Street, named for 
Sir John Temple, who married a daugliter of Governcjr Bowdoin. 
A porti<m of the elevation comes within 
the Eeservoir site, and the houses south 
of it. The tract owned by tlie town 
was only six rods square, Avith a way 
of thirty feet leading to it. This was 
sold to John Hancock and Samitel 
Spear in 1811, when the action of the 
abutters in digging down tlie hill ren- 
dered it untenable. On tlie top of this 
grassy mound was erected the Beacon, 
shown in all the early plans of the town. 
It was a tall mast standing on cross tim- 
b(?rs placed upon a stone foundation, 
and supported by braces. Treenails were 
driven through the mast by vfliich it was 
ascended ; and near the top projected a 
crane of iron sixty-five feet from the base, 
upon Avliich was suspended an iron skele- 
ton frame, designed to receive a barrel of 
tar, or other combustibles. This recep- 
tacle was placed at an altitude of more 
than two hundred feet from the sea level, beacon. 

and could be seen, when fired, for a great distance inland. It;; 
object was to alarm the coimtry in case of invasion. This 
beacon was erected aboRt 1634 — 35, the town having ordered 
it set up on Gentry Hill in this year, with a watch of one 
person, to give the signal on the approach of danger. It Avas 
ncAvly erected in 1768, having fallen from some cause un- 
knoAvn. In Xovember, 1789, the beacon Avas IjIowu down. 

FolloAving the primitive signal spar, a monument of brick, 
sixty feet in height and four in diameter, Avas erected, in 1700, 




^^^^^p^j^ 



]oO 



LANDMARKS OF BOSTON. 



to the inomoiy of those who fell at Bunker Hill. Charles 
Uuliinch was the designer. It was a plain Doric shaft, raised 
on a pedestal of stone and brick, eight 
feet high. The outside was encrusted 
with cement ; and ou the top was a 
large gilded eagle of wood, sn])porting 
the Aini'rican Anus. After the fall of 
the old beacon, Governor Hancock of- 
fered to erect another at his own cost, 
but the niovenient for an obelisk being 
already ou foot, the projjosal was with- 
drawn, and the selectmen proceeded to 
lay out the hill for the monument. The 
monument was taken down and the 
hill levelled in 1811. It stood very 
near the southeast corner of the Reser- 
voir, Temple Street passing directly 
over its position. The earth whi(di 
formed the cone was deposited in the 
Mill]iond, making a future foundatioii 
fur the Lowell and Eastern Iiailmad 
stations. The tablets of slate bore in- 
scriptions written by the architect, 
Charles liulfincli, as follows : — 




MONUMENT. 



OX TUV. SOUTH SIDE. 

To Conimeiiiorate 

the train of events 

whicli led 

to tlie American Revolution 

and finally secured 

Liberty and Indeiiendence 

to the United States, 

this column is erected 

Ly the voluntary contributions 

of the citizens 

of Boston 
M.D.CCXC. 



ON THE EAST SIDE. 

Americans 

While from tins eminence 

Scenes of luxuriant fertility 

of flourishing commerce 

and the aljodes of social happiness 

meet your view, 

Forget not those 

■who l>y their exertions 

Have secured to you 

these blessings. 



A TOUR HOUND THE COMMON. 351 

ON THE WEST SIDE. 

Stamp Act passed 1765. Repealed 1760. 

Board of Customs estalilislied, 1767 

British trooi)S fired on the iiihaliitaiits of Boston, 

March 5, 1770 

Tea Act ])assed 1773. Tea destroyed in Boston, December 16. 

Port of Boston shut and guarded June 1, 1774. 

General Congress at Philadelphia Sept. 5 

Battle at Lexington, April 19, 1775. 

Battle at Bunker Hill, June 17. 

Wasliington took command of the army July 2. 

• Boston evacuated, March 17, 1776. 

Independence declared by Congress, 

Hancock Presiilent, July 4. 

ON THE NORTH SIDE. 

Capture of the Hessians at Trenton, Dec. 26, 1776 

Capture of the Hessians at Bennington, Aug. 16, 1777 

Cai^ture of the British army at Saratoga, Oct. 17. 

Alliance with France Feb. 6, 1778. 

Confederation of the United States foinied, 

Bowdoiu President of Convention, 1780. 

Capture of the British army at York, Oct. 19, 1781 

Preliminaries of Peace Nov. 30, 1782 

Definitive Treaty of Peace Sept. 10, 1783 

Federal Constitution formed, Sept. 17, 1787 

And Ratified by the United States, 1787 to 1790. 

New Congi'ess assembled at New York, April 6, 1790. 

Washington inaugurated President, Ajjril 30. 

Puljlic Debt funded, August 4, 1790. 

The base of the luoniiment was enclosed hy a railing, with 
benches for the use of pilgrims to the spot. A view, e<pialle(l 
only by that now to be obtfiinecl from the lantern of the State 
House, well repaid a breathless scramble up the steep acclivity. 
On the Derne Street side a flight of wooden steps conducted 
part way up the eminence, but, after that, the explorer had to 
avail himself of the foot-holes worn by other visitors, until he 
reached a space fifty feet square on the summit. On all sides, 
except the north, the contour of the ground was ])erfect ; there 
it had been encroached upon, in 17'G4, to a degree endangering 
the elevation, by one Thomas Hodson. The town, by a com- 
mittee, remonstrated with Hodson, but to no purpose, although 
Thomas Hancock and James Otis, Esqrs., were of the delegation. 



6.yl . LAXDMAIiKS OF BOSTON. ■ 

The cDiitninacions ITodsoii persisted in digging gravel on liis lot, 
and (lie cuiuinittet; wei-o dhliged t(j content themselves witli a 
recommendation to (unphiy the intervention of the General Court. 

jN^o account appears tliat the original beacon was ever used, 
but Avhcn the troops were momentarily expected in 17GS, the 
liostonians prepared it for firing, to give the intelligence to the 
country. (jrovern(,u' JSernard waxed very wroth at tliis presump- 
tion, and sent Sheriff (Ireenleaf to remove the tar-ljarrel which 
the Sons of Lil)erty had placed in the skillet. " ]Matters now," 
wrote the govern: ir, " exc;.'eded all former exceedings." 

In 1865 the Legislature authorized the rel)uilding of Beacon 
Hill ]\Ionument by the Bunker Hill ^loiuunent dissociation, 
they to receive the talilets noAV in the custody of the Common- 
Avealth. To jNIr. li. C. Winthrop is said to belong the credit 
of the suggestion, as yet not carried out. 

]Mt. Vernon Street Avas formerly called Sumner Street as far 
as Belknap ; beyond this it Avas Olive Street. The Avhole was 
then called Sumner, and, in 1833, by its present name. Han- 
cock Avas George Street ; B>owdoin, like Hancock, named for the 
governor, AA^as first INIiddlecott Street. As early as 17l*2 only 
a narroAV pathway prolonged Beacon Street across the Hancock 
pasture, around the l)ase of Beacon Hill. To this the name of 
Davie's Lane Avas given. Beacon Street then terminated at the 
Almshouse. 

Besides the ropowalks mentioned west of ILancock Street, 
there Avas one east of it, Avhich l)ecanie the i)roperty of the 
State l)y purchase. Tins ropcAvalk-site \\o\f forms the Avesterly 
side of the Beservoir. A long mpewalk, coinciding nearly Avith 
the line of Belknaj) Street, is upon the earliest map ; ro})emak- 
ing Avas an important industry of Old Boston, especially of the 
Avesterly jxirtion of it. 

Succeeding to the old gambrel-roofed Almshouse came the 
stately edifice at the corner of Park and Beacon Streets, chiefly 
remarkal)le as having beew tlic house in Avhich Lafayette so- 
journed during his visit to JViston in 1824. It Avas erected by 
'i'lioiiiasAmory, before ISOO, forhis resilience, its site commanding 
u licautiful view of the Coinmon, l>ut was later divided into four 



A TOUR ROUND THE COMMON. 



353 



dwellings. In part of this mansion resided Christopher Gore, 
during the year lie was governor of Massachusetts. Fisher 
Ames, Avho died July 4, 1 808, was ' buried from this house. 
The funeral services took {ilace at King's Chapel. Hon. Sam- 
uel Dexter pro- 
nounced his en- ^ _-^ ^r-'iS^ _ 
logy. It was '—-=^-^^^^^ ' "^ 
later tenanted 
by George Tick- 
nor, the distin- 
guished scholar, 
one of the found- 
ers of the Public 
Library, and au- 
thor of the His- 
tory of Spanish 
Literature. 

Before the di- 
vision of the 




LAFAYETTE S RESIDENCE. 



luiilding, it was kept as a fashionable boarding-honse by Mrs. 
Carter, until she removed to the present Howard Street. These 
Ijoarding-houses were, before the erection of the Tremont House, 
the resort of strangers visiting Boston. 

Edward G. INIalljone, the celebrated portrait-painter, had his 
studio there. He accompanied Allston to Europe, and was 
urged by "West to remain, but preferred returning to the United 
States. Malbone excelled in miniature-painting. 

Samuel Dexter was a resident in that part c»f the house front- 
ing on Beacon Street. A Bostonian and a Harvard man, JNIr. 
Dexter was one of the greatest lawyers INIassachusetts ever had. 
Judge Story said of him that he never descended to finesse or 
cuntiing before a jury ; Webster, that his statements were argu- 
ments. He served in Ixith houses of Congress ; in the upper 
branch during the exciting times of the troubles with the French 
Republic. He Avas successively Secretary of "War and of the 
Treasury, under Mr. Adams, and for a time acting Secretary of 
State. In politics Mr. Dexter was a stanch Fedcalist, but sup- 

w 



354 LANDMAKKS OF LOSTON. 

ported tlie Avar of 1812. Ho was first president of the first 
temperance society formed in Massaclmsetts. The accomplished 
scholar, Lucius M. 8arg(>nt, studied law with Mr. Dexter. 

After Mr. Dexter, the huilding- was used — not too success- 
fully — as a clubdiouse. It was rented l)y Mr. Quincy, when 
mayor of Boston, for the use of Lafayette, during the week he 
was tlie guest of the city. 

Lafayette, in order to redeem his pledge to be in Boston at a 
stated time, had to ride forty miles at night, arriving at Dedham 
at midnight. His meeting with Governor Eustis, with whom 
he liad been acquainted in the old lievolutionary army, was ex- 
tremely interesting, the governor exclaiming, " I am the hap- 
piest man that ever lived." 

The General was escorted from the residence of Governor 
Eustis, in Iloxbury, into town, by a cavalcade which conducted 
him to the city limits, where lie was received by the city au- 
thorities. He proceeded, under a military escort, to the head 
of the mall on Tremont Street, where the scholars of the public 
schools were drawn up to receive him. All accounts agree that 
on no occasion were there ever so many peo})le in Boston before. 
After paying his respects to the governor and Council in the 
Senate Chamber, the General was conveyed to his lodgings. A 
handsome arch Avas throAvn over AVashington Street, at the site 
of the old fortifications, Avith this inscription Avritten on the 
spur of the moment the day previous by the j)oet Sprague : — 

" Welcome, Lafayette ! 
The fatliers in glory shall sleep, 

That gathered with thee to the fight, 
But the sons will eternally keep 

The tablet of gratitude bright. 
We bow not the neck, and we bend not the knee ; 
But our hearts, Lafayette, we surrender to thee." 

Another arch Avas erected on the site of the GUI Liberty 
Stump, opposite Bitylston Market. Lafayette rode, uncovered, 
in the banmche witli Mr. (^)uincy, l)OAving incessantly to the 
multitudes that pressed around liim. A scene of great interest 
occurred when tlie General a])p('ared on the balcony of the man- 
sion he Avas to occujiy. On either side of him Avere GoA^ernor 



A TOUU HOUND THE COMMON. 355 

Eustis and ex-Governor Brooks, clad in their old Continental 
uniforms. These two, brothers in arms, had bnried an old 
animosity to greet the noble Frenchman, — a circumstance 
known to and applauded by many. The Boston liegiment, 
which had escorted the General, passed in review ; and, amid 
the cheers of thousands of spectators, the General and liis dis- 
tinguislied companions .withdrew. 

A dinner Avas given to Lafaj^ette at the Exchange Coffee 
House on tlie 27th, at wliich, after the company had partaken 
of an elegant repast provided by Colonel Hamilton, the General 
gave the following toast : — 

" The city of Boston, the cradle of Liberty ; may Faneuil Hall 
ever stand a monument to teach the world that resistance to oppres- 
sion is a duty, and will, under true republican institutions, become 
a blessing." 

The General made a visit to the battle-ground of Bunker 
Hill, also to the Navy Yard, where he was welcomed by Com- 
modore Bainbridge. He passed an evening at Mrs. Lloyd's, 
lady of Senator Lloyd, at their residence in Somerset Street. 
He also visited Governor Eustis at Eoxbury, and Governor 
Brooks at Medford, where, in allusion to the ex-governor, an 
arch was erected near the meeting-house with the inscrip- 
tion : — 

" General Lafayette, 
Welcome to our hills and Brooks." 

He attended divine service on Sunday at Brattle Street, 
where he heard Dr. Palfrey, and in the afternoon went to 
Quincy to dine with the venerable John Adams. " That M^as 
not the John Adams I remember," said the General, sadly, after- 
wards. "That Avas not the Lafayette I remember," said the 
patriarch after the meeting."" Both had changed, the ex- Presi- 
dent was verging on ninety, and the General sixty-seven ; ]\Ir. 
Adams died in 1826, Lafayette in 1834. 

On Monday, August 30, a grand military review took place 
on the Common. The troops were under the command of 
Major-General Crane. The Cadets escorted General Lafayette 
from his lodgings to the State House, thence to the Common, 

* Life of Quincy. 



356 LANDMARKS OF IJOSTON. 

Avliere tlie governor and other officers of tlie Commoiiwealfcli 
Avere assemljlod. Al)out six tliousaml troops tmik }iart in the 
review, Generals Lyman and Appleton commanding Lrigadcs. 
Dinner was served in an immense marqnee, to whicli more than 
twelve luuidred guests sat down. In the evening the General 
gave a levee at his residence which was thronged by all classes, 
the IMarquis bestowing particular attention on every individual 
of huml)le appearance or advanced age. 

Lafayette enjoyed his visit to Boston highly. He was cheered 
to the echo whenever he Avent abrnad, and the conuT of Park 
Street was seldom deserted. One day, when he returned from 
some excursion with the mayor, there was a great crowd to see 
him alight. He turned to the mayor and said, " j\Ir. (^Uiincy, 
were you ever in Europe.'" "No, GeneraL" " Tlien," said 
Lafayette, " you cannot understand the dili'erence between a 
crowd in Europe and here in IJoston ; why, I should imagine 
the people of your city were a picked population out of the 
wliiile liuman race." 

General Lafayette's first visit to Boston Avas in 177S, Avith 
D'Estaing. He Avas next here in 1780, Avhen he returned from 
a trip to France, Avhere he had been to transact some business. 
He remendiered perfectly the i)ersons Avho had rec^eiA^ed him on 
that occasion, — Avhen he lande(l from the frigate Ibn-mione at 
Hancock's Avharf, — and Avhom he had Adsited. On his second 
A'isit he Avas accompanied by his son and by ]\L LcA^asseur. The 
peoph^ of America Avill not soon fcirget their generous and gal- 
lant ally, who aslced permission to serve as a volunteer in the 
American army. BrandyAvinc;, Avhere he A\'as Avounded, and the 
trenches of YorktoAvn, alike attest his A'alor. He has no monu- 
ment ; ])ut pa])er, even more durable than marble, furnishes 
us Avith records like this : — 

"Head-(|u;u-t('rs Oct. loth, 1781. 

For to-morrow. 

M. G. :\[. La Fayette, 

B. G. Mulilt'iiburLi; and 

HayiK's' biii^-ade. 

Ma], "-en. La Faveite's division will mount the trencdies to-morroAV." 



A TOUR ROUND TIIK COMMON. 357 

It Avas at Yorktown that the Marquis, with his American 
Light J )i vision, stormed the enemy's river-lialtery, while Haron 
Viomenil, with the Frcncli grenadiers and eliasseius, assaidted 
another important work on the extreme h'ft. The Americans, 
witli the jMarcjuis at their liead, succee(h!d in captnring their 
redonht hrst, wlien Lafayette sent his aid, jMajcn- ])arl»our, to 
the Laron with the m(!ssage, "I am in my re(h)nht ; Avhcre are 
yon 1 " The Baron, who was waiting for his men to ch;ar away 
the ahattis, returned answer, "I am not in mine, hut will lie in 
five miniites." A touching incident of his visit connected with 
this exploit is related hy Mr. Quincy : — ■ 

" On the day of liis arrival an old soldier would press through the 
crowd in the State House, and cried out, ' You dou't rememhei' me, 
General ; hut I was close to you wdien we stormed our redoulit at 
Yorktown. I was just hehind Cai)tain Smith. You rememher Cap- 
tain Smith ? He was shot through the head as he mounted the 
redoid)t.' 'Ah yes, yes! I rememljer,' returned Lafayette. 'Poor 
Captain Snnth ! Bat we beat the French ! we heat the French ! ' " 

Next l)elow the residence of ]\Ir. Ticknor on Park Street 
was that of Hon. Ahhott Lawrence. Farther down is that of 
Josiah Quincy, Jr., the second mayor of that name. His ad- 
mitnstration will he remembered for the introduction of the 
Cochituate water, — a measure strenuously urged hy his father 
twenty years before its accomj)lishment. The event was cele- 
brated with military and civic displays, and an immense multi- 
tude thronged the Common to see the water let on for the hrst 
time. 

At the corner of Loacon and ]\rt. Vernon Streets was the 
residence of William ]\Iolincnx, one of the early patriots and a 
prominent merchant. He built a splendid mansion for his day, 
but died in 1774. j\[r. ]\L.)lineux was one of the famous com- 
mittee that demanded of Governor Hutchinson the immediate 
removal of the troops after the Massacre. His colleagues were 
Adams (Samuel), Hancock, Warfen, Phillips, Henshaw, and 
Pemberton. John Adams relates, as an amusing incident, that 
IMolineux was. obliged to march side by side Avith the com- 
mander of some of the troops, to protect them from the indig- 



358 LANDMAltKS OF BOSTON. 

nation of the people, in their progress to the wharf, from Avhich 
thej were to embark for the Castk^. 

As the agent of Charles Ward Apthorp, ]\Ir. Molineux rented 
the stores belonging to the former, on Wheelwright's wharf, for 
barracks. The estate of Molineux seems to have passed to Mr. 
Apthorp, for we hud it confiscated as such by the Common- 
wealth. In 1782 it became the residence of Daniel Denison 
Itogers. 

Having completed our circuit of tlie Common, we may ven- 
ture tlie remark that its beauty, as a park, is surpassed by the 
value of its historical associations. 

We have seen that part of the forces Avhich captured Louis- 
burg were assembled and organized here ; that the troops which 
conquered Quebec were recruited and probably brigaded liere by 
Amherst ; that it was the mustering-place for the conflicts which 
nsliered in the American llevolution ; and the fortihed camp 
which lield the beleaguered town in subjection. 

It is associated with the deep horrors of Quaker executions ; 
with the olocpience of Whiteheld, which paved the Avay for 
many eminent divines after him to address the people under 
the " Cathedral trees." It has in all times l*een a i)lace for 
public rejoicings, for the celebration of our republican calendar 
days, or for martial displays. 

The repeal of the Stamp Act was celebrated in Boston on 
the 19th May, 17GG, as no event was ever observed before. 
I)ayl)reak was ushered in with music, 
the beating of drums, and firing of 
small-arms. The guns of tlie Castle 
proclaimed tlie joyfid intelligence, 
which was taken up and echoed by 
the town batteries. In the evening 
an obelisk, which had been erected 
on the Common, was illuminated 
with two lumdred and eiglity lamps. 
REPEAL OBELISK. rp|^,.j.^, ^^.^^ ^ goiu'ral illuuiination. 

Hancock's mansion was brilliant witli lights, aud in front of 
the house a static was built from which fireworks were exhib- 




A TOUR ROUND THE COMMON. 



359 



ited. The Sons of Liberty had erected a similar stage in front 
of the Workhonse, from which they answered the display at 
the Hancock House. Uniler this hospitable roof were enter- 
tained " the genteel part of the Town," wliile the crowd outside 
were treated with a })ipe of wine. 

The obelisk was intended to be placed under Liberty Tree, 
but was con- 
sumed the night 
of the celebra- 
tion. Next above 
the pedestal were 
allegorical figures 
on each of the 
sides, symboliz- 
ing the condition 
of the colony 
from the enact- 
ment to the re- 
peal of the Stamp 
Act. AVe give a America in distress. 

copy of an engraving, liy Paul Eevere, reproducing one of the 
sides. 

Accident alone prevented the Common being the scene of a 
sanguinary struggle between the royal and American forces. 
When Washington occupied Dorchester Heights, he confidently 
expected an attack from Howe, and had prepared a counter- 
stroke. Two divisions, under Putnam, were to attack the town. 
Sullivan, with one, was to assault the works on Beacon Hill, 
(jireene, with the other, was to carry the post at Barton's Point, 
and make his way to a junction with Sullivan. Greene was 
well qualitii^l for the task assigned him, having l»een in Boston 
two years before, and seen the lines on the Common. Provi- 
dence arrested the purpose of Howe, and the town was entered 
without a shot being fired. 

Hancock has the credit of first introducing music upoji the 
Common for the benefit of the peo])le. He caused a band to 
play in front of his dwelling, i)aid for by himself. In former 




360 LAND:\rAiiKS of boston. 

times Ijootlis and stands lor tliu sale of refresliments ware 
erected along Paddock's and tlie (heat ^lall, ultimately em- 
bracing all four sides of the Common. 

Lord Harris, \\lio was captain of the grenadier company of 
the Fifth Foot, I'ercy's regiment, Avrote home, in 177-4, " Our 
camp is })itched in an exceedingly jjleasant situation on the 
gentle descent of a large common, hitherto the i)roperty of the 
Ijostonians, and used for the jjurpose of grazing their cows, 
which now, po(»r creatures, often attempt to force their way 
into their old pastures, wdiere the richest herbage I ever saw 
abounds." 

Lord Harris relates an instance of a cow impaling herself on 
a range of firelocks Avith the bayonets on, going oif with one 
sticking in her side. Harris's company was at Lexington. At 
Bunker Hill he received a wound in the head, falling senseless 
into the arms of his lieutenant, Lord liawdon. 

Public executions occurred occasionally on the Common until 
1812, Avhen the }>ark was rescued from these legalized exhibi- 
tions. It ceased to be a counnon grazing-held under the elder 
Quincy in iSoO, dangerous accidents having occurr(.'d to prom- 
enaders. If a mere handful of settlers more th.an two centu- 
ries ago allotted fifty acres for the connnon benefit, a (j^uarter 
of a million jteople can well allbrd tti pri'scrve it. 



VALLEV ACHE, BOWLING GREEN, AND WEST BOoTON. ;>G1 



CHAPTEE XII. 

VALLEY ACRE, THE BOWLING GREEN', AND WEST BOSTON. 

Governor Bowdoin. — General Biirgoyne. — Boston Society in 1782. — David 
Hinckley's Stone Houses. — James Lloyd. — Lafayette. — Daniel DavLs. — 
Admiral Davis. — Historic Genealogical Society. — Valley Acre. — Uriah 
Cotting. — Governor Eustis. — Anecdote of Governor Brooks. — Millerite 
Tabernacle. — Howard Atlienieum. — Bowling Green. — Old Boston Physi- 
cians. — Charles Bulfinch. — New Fields. — Peter Cliardon. — Mrs. Pel- 
ham. — Peter Pelhani. — Thomas Melvill. — Dr. William Jenks. — Captain 
Goocli. — West Church. — Leverett Street Jail. — Poor Debtors. — Alms- 
liouse. — Massacliusetts General Hosjiital. — Medical College. — National 
and Eagle Theatres. 

GOVERXOE JA:\IES BOAVDOIX lived on Beacon Street, 
near the comer of the street named for liim, the house 
Leing situated at some distance Lack from the street, with a high 
flight of stone steps leading up to it. The family name of the 
governor was Baudoin. Frequent mention is made in these 
pages of prominent events or institutions with which the name 
of Governor Bowdoin is connected. He was chief magistrate 
of jMassachusetts from 1785 - 87, and Shays's Rebellion occurred 
nnder his administration. It Avas vigorously suppressed by 
Bowdoin, to whose aid the officers of the old army quickly 
rallied. This was the dark period of our history. The old 
Articles of Confederation were entirely inadequate to carry on 
the government. Xo taxes could be levied without the consent 
of all the States, and the central government Avas likely to f.iU 
to pieces for want of the means to carry it on. Public and 
private credit shared the general wreck. 

At this crisis the rebellion of Shays broke out. General 
Lincoln commanded the State forces, with Generals Brooks and 
Cobb to support him. The outbreak was crushed with little 
bloodshed, and the authority of the laws restored. Bowdoin's 
popularity was impaired by tliis affair, and he lost his election in 
16 



3G2 LANDMARKS OF BOSTON. 

1787. He was a sufferer from consiuiiptioii, aucl finally suc- 
cuiubed to its attacks. 

General Biirgoyne occupied the Bowdoin mansion in 1775; 
at the same time Clinton resided in that of Governor Hancock. 
These two chiefs overlooked the forces on tlie Common, and had 
particular charge of the defences of West Boston. The man- 
sion in after times became the boarding-house of Mrs. Delano. 

Next, to the eastward, was the residence of William Phil- 
lips, Senior, — a line old pre - Revolutionary mansion, ap- 
proached by several flights of stone steps. It stood on the 
hill, at a higher elevation than the Bowdoin or Sears houses on 
either side of it, the summit being considerably higher than the 
house-tops now in Ashburton Place. Some noble trees stand- 
ing on the estate formed a landmark for approaching vessels, — 
they were cut down f )r fuel by the British. This estate be- 
longed successively to Sanuiel Sewall and Edward Bromiield. 
Freeman Place Chapel was erected on the site. 

What the society of Beacon Street and its vicinity was in 
the last century may be gathered from the testimony of a keen 
observer of that period. 

Count Segur says that " Boston affords a proof that democ- 
racy and luxury are not incompatible, for in no part of the 
United States is so much comfort or a more agreeable society to 
be found. Europe does not offer, to our admiration, women 
adorned with greater lieauty, eleganc(\ education, or more bril- 
liant accomplishments than the ladies of Boston, sucli as Mes- 
dames Smith, Tudor, Jervis, and Morton." M. de Chastellux 
also pays suitable acknowledgments to the Boston ladies, like 
a gallant Frenchnian ; while both unite in eulogy of Adams, 
Hancock, Dr. Cooper, and other leading s[)irits it was their 
fortune to meet. 

The two stone houses at the easterly corner of Beacon and 
Somerset Streets, now, while we write, undergoing such strange 
manipulations, were erected soon after the war of 1812 by 
David Hinckley. They were, at that time, the handsomest 
private residences in Boston, and were occu})ied successively by 
citizens distinguished in financial or commercial pursuits, until 



VALLEY ACRE, BOWLING CIJEEX, AND AVEST BOSTON. 303 

they became the Somerset Ckib House. Tlicy have lately passed 
into the hands of the American Congregational Association. 

Connected with one house is a domestic tragedy, whicli can 
now affect no one by repetition. An Italian, named Perodi, 
who was the French teacher of a daughter of Mr. Hinckley, 
availed lumself of the opportunity to secure the young lady's 
affections. This, coining to the knowledge of her frici t!?, 
resulted in an interview, at which Perodi advanced pretensions 
to rank and position in the old country by documents after- 
wards alleged to be forged. The denouement occasioned the 
absence of Perodi for a time ; but he returned, and, ascertain- 
ing tliat the object of his pursuit was then living in Somerset 
Place (Allston Street), repaired thither, entered the house un- 
l^erceived, ascended the stairs to the lady's apartment, and, being 
discovered, staljljed himself with a poniard. 

Mr. Hinckley took down an old stone house situated on his 
lot, considered the oldest, of stone, in r>oston. It was built by 
Eev. James Allen of the First Cliurch, and was occupied by his 
descendants until about 1806, one of whom, Jeremiah Allen, 
was high sheritf of Suffolk. 

Proceeding onward through Somerset Street, moclo pedesfri, 
we pass the First Baptist Church, Ashburton Place, formerly 
Somerset Court, Pemberton Square, now a mere crater of the 
old hill, and pause before a double brick mansion, with arched 
doorway, now a hotel under the sign of the " Somerset House." 

This house was built by Hon. James Lloyd after Somerset 
Street was laid out, and opened at the liack upon the gardens 
of his father's estate, which extended up the hill beside that of 
Gardiner Greene. The elder Lloyd was a very distinguished 
physician ; Drs. Joseph Warren, John Jeffries, Isaac Eand, and 
John Clarke were students with him. He was for some time 
surgeon at the Castle, and had a fine old residence on Tremont 
Kow. 

His son was in the United States Senate in 1808- 13, during 
a most exciting period. A Bostonian by birth, he had been 
active in mercantile affairs before engaging in political life. 
Lafayette became his guest in this house in 1825. During this 



.104 LANDMARKS OF BOSTON. 

sojourn the Marquis paid visits to Daniel Wel)stftr, John Ad- 
ams, at Quincy, General Hull, at the residence of Mr. McLellan 
in AVinthrop Place, where he met liis old companions in arms, 
(n'lierals Cohh, Huntington, Colonel Putnam, and others. He 
also visited (ieneral Dearhorn and Hon. T. L. AVintlirop, ]\frs. 
Ticknor, in Tremont Street, IMadani Humphries, widow of his 
old comrade General Humphries, in j\It. Vernon Street, and 
attended a party given in his honor hy Mayor Quincy. 

A public dinner was given to Lafayette at the jNlarlborough 
Hotel, at which Avere present the Secretary of War, Governor, 
and Lieutenant-Governor, Hons. Messrs. Phillips, Lloyd, and 
AVel)ster, the veteran C.)lonel JMcLane, and others. Odes were 
delivered on this occasion hy Charles Sprague and Colonel 
Everett. The General went afterwards to the Boston Theatre, 
where he listened to a complimentary address from Miss PoweD, 
and witnessed the play of Charles II., with Finn, Kilner, etc., 
in the cast. 

Tlie two buildings on tlie opposite side of the street, one of 
wliieh is used by the Historic Genealogical Society, Avere built 
hy Daniel Davis, a laAvyer of some prominence in the District 
of Maine, avIio remoAT.d to Boston in 1804. As a barrister, his 
talents Avere not, perhaps, consincuous at a bar Avliere Otis, Mor- 
ton, and their peers practised, but he had the faculty of grasp- 
ing the points of a case in the court-room, and constructing his 
argument as the trial progressed. He Avas appointed Solicitor- 
General by Governor Strong, — an office created expressly for 
him, as, in 17G7, it had been for Jonathan Sewall. Perez Mor- 
ton Avas at the same time Attorney-General. 

Eear-Admiral Charles H. Davis is the son of Daniel Davis, 
and Avas l>orn in the most southerly of the tAvo houses. Admiral 
Davis is best knoAvn as victor in the engagement Avith tlie 
rebel fleet before Memphis, Tenn., in June, 1862. His scientific 
labors in connection Avith the naval service have been of great 
value. He Avas Avith Dupont in the expedition Avhich captured 
Port Royal, Avith Farragut beloAV Vicksburg, and in the expedi- 
tion up the Yazoo. AVIiile engaged in the coast survey he dis- 
covered several dangerous shoals off Xantucket, in the track of 
vessels bound into Xew York. 



VALLEY ACRE, BOWLING GREEN, AND AVEST BOSTON. 365 

The 'New England Historic Genealogical Society occupies the 
northerly house, — a handsome and well-arranged huilding. 
The local histories and family genealogies of New England are 
the objects upon which the society has been founded. For an 
antiquarian association it is eminently progressive, -^— a circum- 
stance that accounts for its rise and j^rogress among older insti- 
tutions of its kind. Its collections, open to every student, are 
made available through the exertions and interest of its officers 
in e\'ery department of historical research. The collections and 
])ublications of the society have stimulated the writing of town 
histories, so that what was once a hopeless labor may be inves- 
tigated in a brief period and with system. 

The society had its beginning in 1844, with five gentlemen 
well known in antiquarian circles, namely, Charles Ewer, 
Samuel G. Drake, \Y. H. Montague, J. Wingate Tliornton, and 
Lemuel Shattuck. Mr. Ewer, an old Boston bookseller, was 
the first president. He deserves honorable mention as the pro- 
jector of the South Cove improvement and the opening of 
Avon Street. In 1845 the society was incorporated. 

This elegant building, which was dedicated in 1871, cost 
about $ 40,000, and was entirely paid for by subscriptions 
among members and others, raised chiefly through the instru- 
mentality of its president, Hon. Marshall P. Wilder. It con- 
tains 9,000 volumes, 25,000 pamphlets, and a large collection 
of manuscripts and curiosities, Avhich, being wholly germane to 
the field in Avhich the society labors, form a unicpie and valua- 
l)le library. 

Valley Acre M^as a name anciently applied to the valley lying 
between Pemberton and Beacon Hills, now intersected by Som- 
erset and Bulfinch Streets, and reaching to the low ground 
lielow. The name was retained until al)0ut the present century, 
or until the disap])earance of the hills upon either side deprived 
it of significance. 

Farther down Somerset Street we pass the substantial, com- 
fortable-looking residences of ]\Iessrs. Webster and Cotting, and 
of Dr. Jackson, whose name is associated with the ether dis- 
covery. The Sultan sent a decoration to Dr. Jackson, whoso 



366 LANDMARKS OF BOSTON. 

claims to be the discoverer of the great ana?sthetic were disputed 
by Dr. Morton, the weiglit (if pulilic opinion favoring the latter. 
"VVe have in the Public Garden a monument dedicated, to the 
discovery, whereon one may seek in vain for the name of him 
who has conferred such incalculable benefit upon the human race. 

It will scarcely be creditetl that a discovery fraught with such 
important consequences as Av^as that of applying ether in sur- 
gical operations could not be announced in a Boston newspaper 
until the discoverer sent to the office of publication a jiaid 
advertisement. Yet this actually happened less than thirty 
years ago. Ether Avas first administered by Dr. "VV. T. G. ]M(jr- 
ton, at his office, 19 Tremont Row, now Street, about opposite 
the northerly end of the Museum, September 30, 184G. The 
value of the discovery was at first more readily appreciated 
abroad than at home. 

Mr. Cotting, notwithstanding the gigantic enterprises he con- 
ducted, in consequence of reverses during the war of 1812, died 
in straitened circumstances. To his genius Boston owes the 
inauguration of an era of improvement begun against the tradi- 
tional and conservative policy of the citizens generally. By 
dint of indomitable energy and perseverance he succeeded in 
realizing most of his designs, and, had he lived, Avould have 
worthily continued what he had so well liegun. Besides the 
distinguished occupants of the AVebster mansion mentioned was 
William Kopes, an eminent merchant connected with the Ilus- 
sian trade. 

Dr. William Eustis, who succeeded John Brooks as governor 
of Massachusetts in 1824, found his residence in Boxbury — 
he lived in the old Shirley mansion — too distant from the 
State House, during sessions of the General Court, and, in the 
winter of 1825, took lodgings with J\Irs. Miles, the successor 
of Mrs. Carter, in Howard Street. The house stood where the 
Howard Athena?um is. Here he soon fell ill and died, being 
buried fniiu this house on the 12th of February with military 
honors. The funeral services took place at the Old South, and 
the remains were placed in the Granary Burying Ground. Ciov- 
ernor Eustis studied medicine under Joseph Warren ; he served 



VALLEY ACHE, BOWLING GUEEN, AND WEST BOSTON. 367 

as surgeon in the Revolutionary army, and, at its conclusion, 
took a residence in Sudbury Street, and commenced a practice. 
He served two terms as member of Congress, and held other 
offices under the State. 

General Sumner relates of him some interesting reminis- 
cences. He says : — 

" I remember one occasion particularly, when I was mvited to the 
governor's table to a dinner given in compliment to Lord Stanley, 
Lord Wortley, and M. Labouchiere. The latter gentleman, in his 
visit to Boston, was so impressed with the beauty and execution of 
AUston's picture of Elijah in the Wilderness, that he purchased it 
of the painter at the price of a thousand dollai's. 

" Brooks and Eustis, two old cronies of the Revolution, about the 
time of Lafayette's reception, in 1824, were on unfriendly terms. 
The difference was caused by the election of Brooks as President of 
the Society of the Cmcinnati, a vacancy having occurred while 
Eustis was vice-president and absent from the country. The friends 
of both exerted themselves to bring about a reconciliation, and, an 
interview being arranged, the old friends did not embrace each 
other merely as old friends, but they shook hands so heartily, and 
the intercourse was so ftuuiliar, — the one calling the other ' John,' 
and the other calling Eustis ' Doctor,' and sometimes ' Bill,' — that 
they parted Avith as friendly feelings as had existed between them at 
any period.' " 

Upon the spot where stands the Howard Athenoeum was 
built, during the excitement of 1843 — 44, a huge wooden struc- 
ture, dignified with the name of " Tabernacle." Here the dis- 
ciples of the prophet Miller awaited the day of ascension, amid 
scenes that beggar description. The interior was hung with 
pictures representing the monsters of the Book of Eevelation, 
in which the artist had drawn freely upon imagination to de- 
pict the grotescpie and horrible. Frenzy seemed to hold pos- 
session of the worshippers at this temple ; many disposed of 
all their worldly goods, the reason of others was affected, and 
the whole city was agitated almost beyond belief, until the day 
fixed for the end of all things human came and went like 
other days. An error of calculation had been made by the 
prophet, biit his deluded congregation dissolved silently and 
ingloriously. 



368 LANDMARKS OF DOSTOX. 

It is related that in Iniildin!^' the front Avail on Howard 
Street due regard was not had to sai'iity, and that it had a 
decidetl leaning outwards. The mayor's attention being called 
to the fact, he expostulated with the builders, who replied, 
" that it made but little ditl'erence as the world itself would 
last Init a few days at the most." The mayor, ]\Iartin Brim- 
mer, compelled them to rebuild the wall in question, observing 
that they might incline it so as to fall inward, but not out- 
wardly. Millei", the apostle of the sect, had been a soldier of 
1812, serving with distinction on the northern frontier with 
the rank of captain. 

The Tabernacle was next leased for theatrical performances, 
and imder the hands of car[)enters and painters underwent a 
speedy transformation. A new front, painted in imitation of 
freestone was erected, and the house received the name of 
the Howard Athen;euni. 

The first performance v>^as on the night of October 13, 1845, 
Avhen the " School for Scandal " Avas given. Messrs. Johnson, 
Ayling, Ford, and Brayley Avere the managers. Mr. James 11. 
Hackett, since so famous for liis impersonations of the "fat 
knight," made his first appearance in Boston at this house. 
In February, 184G, a few minutes after the closing of tlie 
theatre, fire Avas discovered issuing from it, and the. theatre- 
tabernacle AA^as speedily consumed. 

The present theatre Avas l)uilt in 184G, and Avas opened in 
October of that year under the control of jMr. Ilackett. Isaiah 
Rogers Avas the architect. At this theatre Mr. "\^"illiam Warren 
made his debut before a Boston audience as Sir Bucius C)'Trig- 
ger, in the " liivals." The A'iennoise Children also appeared 
at the HoAvard, creating an luiexampled furor. The house is 
further celebrated for the first representations of Italian opera 
in Boston by a comjiany from Havana, Avho opened in April, 
1847, Avith " Ernani," Avhen the golden notes of Fortunata 
Tedesco first enraptured Bostonians. Blangy, the Bavels, Ma- 
dame Anna Bishop, and other celebrities l)rought the theatre 
into high re])ute. Eliza Ostinelli made her iirst appearance on 
the stage at the Howard in " La Sonnambula." 



VALLEY ACRE, BOWLING GREEN, AND WEST BOSTON. 369 

Tliis estate is further ii(>te(l as tlic old-time habitation of 
Hon. James Pitts, a counsellor and mover of the address to 
General Gage. 

Valley Acre is not more obsolete than the old Bowling Green, 
upon which we have entered to find it changed to Bowdoin 
Square. Cambridge Street began in early times at Sudbury 
Street, extending along the green, and thence to the river. 
AVhat is now the square fell away in a natural slope to the 
Mill Pond. Tlie rest of the (piarter known as West Boston 
Avas very sparsely peopled. On a small eminence in the present 
neighborhood of the AVest Church was a windmill ; rope- 
walks covered most of the neck known as Barton's Point, on 
one extremity of which were situated the copper-works, which 
gave their name to Copper, now Brighton Street. Across the 
point earthworks were thrown up in 1775. The greater part 
of the area west of Bowdoin Square was in its primitive con- 
dition of helds or pastures, and so remote was it considered 
from the centre of population, that the Province Hospital and 
Pest House was located near AVest Boston Bridge, on what is 
now Grove Street, from which the point Avas called " Pest 
House Point." 

Eighty odd years ago there were but three-and-twenty phy- 
sicians and surgeons in all Boston. Besides the honored names 
of Lloyd, Pant], Danforth, Eustis, Jarvis, Hay ward, Homans, 
and AVarren, there Avas Dr. Thomas Bulfinch in BoAvdoin 
Square, father of Charles Bulfinch, the distinguished architect. 

The impress of Mr. Bullinch's genius is seen not only in his 
native city, but in the Capitol of the nation, Avhich AA'as planned 
by him after the destruction of the original by the British 
General Boss. Mr. Bullinch's early taste for this branch of 
art Avas cultivated by travel in the Old AA^orld amid the Avorks 
of Inigo Jones, Sir Christopher AVren, and the old masters of 
the Continent. Eeturning, he at once applied himself to the 
beautifying of his birthplace. Before his day there Avere but 
few public buildings that Avould attract the notice of a stranger. 
Architectural beauty Avas but little considered, mere adaptation 
to the purposes of the structure being all that the builder 
IG* X 



370 LANDMARKS OF BOSTOX. 

attcmpteJ. The Beacon Hill Monument, the Franklin Street 
Crescent, the new (State House, introduced a new era, which 
Eogers and Willard, Bryant and Billings, have perpetuated. 

Of Mr. Bidiinch's public works the State House was indeed 
considered somewhat faulty in its proportion of length to 
height ; but it is stated that the original plan contemplated 
greater length to the wings, — departed from on economical 
grounds. Mr. Bultinch was a Harvard man, graduating in the 
same class with Samuel Dexter and Judge John Davis. He was 
closely identified with the interests of the town, serving on the 
Board of Selectmen a period of twenty-two years, during nine- 
teen of which he was Chairman of the Board. 

Besides other works of whicli mention has been made, Mr. 
Bultinch was architect of the State Prison, the Old City Hall, 
the Cathedral in Franklin Street, Federal Street Church and 
Theatre, the New South Church in Summer Street, the Mas- 
sachusetts General Hospital, Haymarket Theatre, and of the 
enlargement of Faneuil Hall. University Hall, at Cambridge, 
and numerous private residences, attest his industry and the 
general estimation in which his services were held. 

The names of the early dwellers in the " l^ew Fields," as the 
pastures of West Boston were called, have or had their names 
reproduced in Allen, Buttolph, INIiddleixitt, Bullincli, Dynde, 
and Southack Streets. Garden and ( Jrove were descriptive of 
points of rur.d beauty in Allen's pasture, as Avas Centre Street, 
of its equal division. Leverctt is from the famous old Governor 
John, and Staniford and Chambers (part of which was called 
Wiltshire) and Belknap left their patronymics to those avenues. 
Cambridge Street terminated in a mar.sh, from which arose the 
northwest slope of Centinel Hill, the shore receding a consider- 
able distance from the line of Charles Street. The ropevv'allvS 
referred to were situated upon and in the A'icinity of Po[)lar 
Street. John Steel made bolt-roj^e, lines, and other cordage 
there in 1719. 

Before the work of demolition began in Bowdoin Square, it 
was the seat of many elegant old-time estates, with broad acres, 
gardens, and noble trees, of which but a solitary specimen 



VALLEY ACRE, BOWLING GREEN, AND WEST BOSTON. 371 

here and there is left. The Eevere House, from which AVeb- 
ster harangued tlie citizens, is on the grounds and residence of 
Kirk Boott, whose son Kirk Boott was connected many years 
with the Lowell manufactures. The hotel is named for Paul 
Eevere, lirst president of the Mechanic Charitable Association, 
by which it was built. It lias enjoyed the distinction of enter- 
taining President Fillmore, Jenny Lind, the Prince of Wales, 
and the Grand Duke Alexis of llussia. 

On the site of the Baptist Church, erected in 1840, was the 
dwelling of Theodore Lyman, Sr. The space in front of the 
church, once ornamented with trees and separated from the street 
by an iron fence, is at present utilized by a row of unsightly 
shops, between which one must pass to reach the church. The 
Coolidge and Parkman estates are covered with modern struc- 
tures, as is also that of Lieutenant-Govtirnor Armstrong, on 
the corner opposite the Revere House. The two stone houses 
fronting the square were built by Samuel Parkman, father of 
Dr. George Parkman. The range of brick buildings, from 
Howard Street in the direction of Bulfmch, was the second 
built in the town, in 1800, and obtained the name of West 
liow, as distinguished from South Bow, near the Old South, 
and Xorth Bow in Anne Street. 

Peter Chardon, another of the Huguenot descendants, built 
a house on the corner of the street bearing his name. He was 
a man of polished manners, and an influential merchant of the 
old time. A school-house was erected in 1804, at the corner of 
Chardon and Hawkins Streets, the eighth in the town. In 
1800 Hawkins Avas commonly known by the name of Tattle 
Street. A portion of the latter street was occupied by the 
distil-houses which gave the name of Distil-House Square to 
the neighboring space. 

Mrs. jNIary Pelham, mother of Copley tlic painter, lived in a 
house between the estate of Governor Sullivan (near the entrance 
to Maynard's stables) and Alden Court. She was the widow 
of Bichard Copley, tobacconist, and continued to follow the 
business after her second marriage. The following advertise- 
ment may be found in the Boston Xews Letter of July 11, 
1748 : — 



372 LANDMARKS UF BOSTON. 

" Mrs. IMaiy Pelliam (formerly the -widow of Copley, on Long 
Wharf, toljacconist) is removed to Liudel's Row, against the Quaker 
Meeting House, near the tipper end of King Street, Boston, where 
she continues to sell the best Virginia Tobacco, Cut, Pigtail, and 
Spun, of all sorts, by Wholesale and Retail, at the cheapest rates." 

At tliis time the Pelhams lived over the tobacco shop. 
Pelham possessed a versatile genius. He kept a writing and 
arithmetic school in 1748, and was one of the earliest teach- 
ers of dancing to the Bostonians, having had a school at the 
house of Philip Dumaresq, in Summer Street, as early as 
1738. 

He is still more noted as the earliest Boston engraver we have 
an account of, having, in 1727, engraved a portrait of Cotton 
Mather. He also engraved a number of Smibert's paintings, 
chiefly of the leading Boston divines of that day. Mr. Pelham 
also used the pencil with consideraljle skill. "^' 

Retracing our steps to Green Street, Ave find a resident wlio 
brought the old and new Boston into juxtaposition, until his 
decease, in 1832, at the advanced age of eighty-one. AVe allude 
to Major Thomas Melvill, who lived in an old wooden house 
on the south side of Green Street, between Staniford and the 
building formerly the Church of the Advent. Thomas jNIel- 
vill's father Avas a cadet of the Scottish family of the Earls of 
Melvill and Leven. He came to this country cjuite young, and 
at liis death left Thomas, his only son, an orphan at the age of 
ten years. The latter Avas educated at NeAV Jersey College, 
Avhence he graduated in 1769 ; he took the degree of A. M. 
at HarA^ard in 1773. He Avas a democrat, and a firm friend 
of Samuel Adams, of Avhom he had a small portrait by Copley, 
now at Harvard. Herman Melville, the Avell-known author, is 
his grandson. 

jNIajor Melvill's long and honorable connection with the 
Boston Fire Department continued for forty years, and his 
death Avas finally caused by over-fatigue at a fire near his 
house. Tliis connection commenced as lircAvarcl in 1779, in the 
good old times Avhen those officers carried staves tipped at the 

* Proceedings of the ^Massachusetts Historical Society. 



VALLEY ACRE, BOWLING GKEEX, AND WEST BOSTON. 373 

end with a brass flame, and marshalled the bystanders into 
lines for passing buckets of water to the scene of conllagration. 
One of the town engines was named !Melvill, in honor of the 
major. 

IMajor Melvill was a member of the Cadets, one of the mem- 
orable Tea- Party, and captain in Craft's regiment of artillery in 
the lievolutionary War. He commanded a detachment sent to 
Xantasket to watch the movements of the British fleet. In the 
expedition into Rhode Island, in 1778, he took the rank of 
major. On the organization of the Custom House, under State 
authority, he was appointed surveyor, which office he held until 
the death of James Lovell, when he was commissioned naval 
officer by Washington, remaining in office more than forty years, 
until superseded by President Jackson in 1829. 

The brick church mentioned in Green Street was consecrated 
in 1826, at which time Eev. Dr. William Jenks was installed 
as pastor. He was the first to found a Seamen's Bethel in Bos- 
ton ; and was the author of a valuable Commentary on the Bible, 
and many other useful works. The Doctor was a valued mem- 
ber of a number of learned societies, a pure and much-beloved 
member of society, and died sincerely regretted. His residence 
was in Crescent Place. 

Gouch Street, which we think should be spelled Gooch, is 
connected with an incident of American history fitly jierpetu- 
ated by tlie name. 

AVhen Sir William Howe attacked Port Washington, on the 
Hudson, and had summoned the garrison to surrender, Wash- 
ington, who from the opposite shore had witnessed the assault, 
wished to send a note to Colonel Magaw, acquainting him that 
if he could hold out till evening, lie (Washington) Avould en- 
deavor to bring off the garrison during the night. The brave 
Captain Gooch offered to be the bearer of the note. " He ran 
down to the river, jumped into a small boat, pushed over the 
river, landed under the bank, ran up to the fort, and delivered 
the message ; came out, ran and jumped over the broken ground, 
dodging the Hessians, some of whom struck at him with their 
pieces, and others attempted to thrust him with their bayonets ; 



0/4 



LANDMARKS OF BOSTON. 




WIOST mUKCH. 



escaping tlirough tlieni, lie got to his boat and returned to Fort 
Lee." ''' 

Gouch Street is further noted for its sugardiouses, of wliiidi 
there were .seven in the town in ll'Ji, each capable of manufac- 
turing 100,000 pounds annually. 

The West Church, on Lynde, fronting Cambridge Street, was 
organized in 173G. liev. AVilliam 
Hooper, father of a signer of the 
Declaration of Independence, Avas 
the tirst pastor, but after nine 
years' service he became attached 
to the Church of England, and 
crossed the ocean to take orders. 
He became afterwards pastor of 
Trinity. 

Jonathan jNIayhew, one of the 
greatest lights of the IJoston pul- 
pit, whose eloquence stimidated 
and upheld the cause of liberty, succeeded Mr. Hooper. His 
usefulness was terminated l^y his decease in July, 17GG, two 
months after the Stamp Act repeal, on which he preaclied a 
memoraljle discourse. Simeon Howard, Charles Lowell, and 
C. A. Bartol have been the successive pastors. 

The frame of the original Church was set up in September, 
1730, l)ut it Avas not until the following spring that it was com- 
pleted. It shared the fate of other Boston churches in 1775, 
being used for barracks, and also siiflered the loss of its steeple, 
taken down by the British to prevent signals lieing made to the 
Provincials at Cambridge. The old house was taken down and 
the present one built in ISOG. The lirst Sunday school estab- 
lished in Xew England is said to have originated in the Y\"est 
Church, in 1812. 

The charital)le and corrective institutions of the town, after 
their removal from Park, Beacon, and Court Streets, were located 
at West Boston. The jail remained in Leverett Street until 
LSolj wheu it was removed to its present location on the north- 

* Heath's Menioins. 



VALLEY ACRE, BOWLING GEEEN, AND WEST BOSTON. 375 

erlj extension of Charles Street, situated on land reclaimed from 
the S'.^a. This was not elfected until after twelve years' agitation 
had demonstrated the necessity for the change. There were 
two separate prisons within the same enclosure in Leveretfc 
Street, one of which was converted into a House of Correction 
in 1823, and was so used until some time after the completion 
of the House of Correction at South Boston. The Leverett 
Street jail was considered very secure, walls and floors being 
comjiosed of large blocks of hewn stone clamped togetlier with 
iron, while between the courses loose cannon-balls were laid in 
cavities hollowed out for the purpose. Such a building neces- 
sarily occupied some time in construction, and upon its comple- 
tion, in 1822, the old stone jail in Court Street was taken down, 
the materials going in part to build the gundiouse in Thacher 
Street. 

In the Leverett Street jail debtors were confined, and even 
when under bail could not go out of the narrow limits of the 
Avard in which it was situated, without forfeiture of their bonds, 
and subjecting their bondsmen to payment of the entire claim 
against them. The law which gave the creditor this power 
over the person of his unfortunate debtor was -not repealed 
until a comparatively recent period, although mitigated in some 
of its more rigorous provisions. 

Charles Dickens animadverted severely upon our prison sys- 
tem, which he examined Avhen in this country, and pronounced 
barbarous. The " American IS^otes " may have wounded our self- 
love, but they told some unpleasant though wholesome truths. 

Among the executions which have taken place in the enclosure 
of Leverett Street jail, that of Professor AVebster is prominent. 
His demeanor at the gallows was dignified and self-possessed. 
Before he suffered the penalty of the law he addressed a letter 
to a relative of the family he had so terribly Avronged, in which 
he eloquently implored that his punishment might fully expiate 
his crime. 

The streets Barton, Yernon, and Minot are of comparatively 
recent origin. They occupy the site of tlie Almshouse built in 
1800, after its demolition in Beacon Street. At the time of its 



37 G LANDMxUIKS OF BOSTON. 

erection liere it was situated on tlie ])ank of the river, from 
which a wharf, now forming the site of the old Lowell depot, 
extended. 

The New Almshouse, as it was called, was a brick building 
of three stories, with a central structure, from Avhich wings ex- 
tended. This central building was considerably higher than 
the rest, and had lofty, arched windows, with a raised pediment 
relieved by ornamental work ; on either gable stood a carved 
emblematic figure. Tlie whole cdiHce v/as two hundred and 
seventy feet in length by lifty-six in depth. It stood until 
May, 1825, when it was superseded by the House of Industry 
at South Boston, and the land sold to private individuals. A 
brick wall, with iron gates, surrounded the Almsliouse enclosure. 
Xo building having been erected to take the place of the Work- 
house, or Bridewell, the inmates were obliged to be received 
into the Almshouse ; but a small brick building was subse- 
quently erected, adjacent to the latter^ for a Bridewell. 

It has always been the flxte of some who have known better 
days to become dependants upon the public charity. One nota- 
ble instance is mentioned of the daughter of a clergyman of 
the French Protestant Church having sought and obtained an 
asylum in tlie old Almshouse. 8he continued to visit anil l)e re- 
ceived into the houses of her former friends, who, with intuitive 
delicacy, forebore to question her on the subject of her residence. 

The tract bounded by Cambridge Street, North Russell Street, 
and the Hospital grounds was once under water. Bridge, Blos- 
som, and A^ine Streets have all be(;n built since 1800. 

At the west end of McLean Street (formerly South Allen), 
with the front towards Cambridge Street, .stands the Massachu- 
setts General H(isi)ital. It is Imilt of Chelmsford granite, and 
was considered in 1821, when completed, the finest public or 
private edifice in New England. It stands on what was for- 
merly Prince's pasture, fiiur acres of wliich constitute the Hos- 
pital domain. In 1840 it was enlarged by the addition of two 
wings. Charles Bulfinch was the architect of the original. In 
this hospital ether was first applied in a surgical operation of 
magnitude, by request of Dr. J. C. Warren. 



VALLEY ACRE, BOWLING GREEN, AND WEST BOSTON. 377 

Some of the sources from Avliich the Hospital drew its being 
liave been adverted to. A bequest of $ 5,000, at tlie close of 
the last century, "was the beginning. Nothing further was 
effected until 1811, when liftj-six gentjemen were incorporated 
under the name of the Massachusetts General Hos-jntal. The 



/I*. 



^KJ 



r r * 



M:'Mw:^^'Wi^r 



'■£^]^ 




MASSACHUSETTS GENERAL HOSPITAL. 



charter likewise granted the Province Jlouse, under condition 
that $ 100,000 should be raised from other sources within ten 
years. The Hospital Life Insurance Company was required to 
pay tribute to its namesake by its act of incorporation. 

Xo eleemosynary institution in the country ever accumulated 
tlie means of carrying out its humane objects with greater 
rapidity. John McLean bequeathed $ 100,000 to the Hospital, 
and ^ 50,000 more to be divided between that institution and 
ILarvard. By the year 1816 the trustees were able to purchase 
the estate at Charlestown, now Somerville, and build two brick 
houses, which were ready for the reception of the insane in 
1818. This is the asylum now known by the name of its 
noble benefactor, INIcLeau. His name was justly conferred 
upon the street without loss to its ancient possessor, as there 
was also Is^orth Allen Street, now known simply as Allen. 

In Grove Street we have the neAv location of the Massachu- 
setts Medical College, after its removal from Mason Street. 
The building derives a horrible interest as the scene of the 
murder of Dr. Parkman, the details of which are yet fresh in 



378 LANDMARKS OF BOSTOV 

tlie memories of many. The unsuspecting victim repaired to 
the College, where he had an appointment with his murderer, 
from which he never departed alive. IS^o similar event ever 
produced so great a sensation in Boston. Both the parties were 
of the first standing in society. The deadly blow might have 
been struck in a moment of passion, but the almost fiendish 
art with which the remains were concealed and consumed was 
fetal to Dr. Webster. Xot the least of the touching episodes 
of the trial was the appearance of the daughters of the prisoner 
on the witness stand, giving their evidence under the full con- 
viction of their father's innocence. 

Besides the Howard Athenaeum the West End had still an- 
other theatre within its limits. In 1831 a small wooden build- 
ing was erected by ]\Iessrs. W. and T. L. Stewart on the old 
Mill Pond, fronting on Traverse Street. This was designed for 
equestrian performances, and was called the American Amplii- 
theatre. INlr. William Pel1\y, fcjrmerly of the Tremont, became 
the lessee, and remodelled the interi(_ir so as to adapt it to dra- 
matic performances, opening it on the 3d of July, under the 
name of the Warren Theatre. Tlie enterprise proving success- 
ful, jNIr. Pell)y was enaliled to build a new house in the summer 
of 1S3G, which was inaugurated on the 15th of August as the 
National Theatre. At this house INEiss Jean Margaret Davenport 
made her first appearance before a Boston audience, as did also 
Julia Dean, a favorite AVestern actress. In April, 1852, the 
theatre was destroyed by fire, but was rebuilt and reopened in 
November of the same year by Mr. Leonard. 

There was a little theatre erected in 1841, at the corner of 
Havei'hill and Traverse Streets, opened by Mr. Wyzeman ]\Iar- 
shall under the name of the Eagle Theatre. INIr. W. II. Smith 
officiated a short time here as manager, but the concern proving 
a serious rival to the National, Ish: Pell^y obtained an interest, 
and closed the house in a manner not altogether creditable to 
hiu).''^' 

Several of the companies of the regiment of Massachusetts vol- 
unteers, raised fur service in the IMexican war, were cj^uartered at 

* C'lapp's Boston Stage. 



VALLEY ACKE, BOWLING GREEN, AND WEST BOSTON. 379 

the "West End. Companies " A " and " E " had quarters in Pitts 
Street. Lieutenant-Colonel Abbott's company was located in 
the old wooden building on the east side of Leverett Street, 
which was afterwards used as a police station. Captain Edward 
Webster's company was enlisted in the famous building on the 
corner of Court and Tremont Streets, and in the office of his 
father, Daniel Webster. Captain AVebster afterwanls became 
major of the regiment, and died in Mexico. Isaac Hull Wright 
was the colonel. 

The Mexican war was unp(^pnlar in Boston. The regiment 
was neglet'ted by the State dthcials, and greeted with o[)pro- 
brious epithets, and even pelted with mud, when it paraded in 
the streets. ]\[eetings were called in Faneuil Hall, at which 
the war and the soldiers were denounced by the antislavery 
leaders, Theodore Parker, Wendell Phillips, W. Lloyd Carrison, 
and others. As soon as the regiment was mustered into the 
United States service, the State refused to have anything fur- 
ther to do with it, and after its return home with half its 
original number, it Avas severely characterized by the executive. 

General Winheld Scott gave the regiment a flag of honor, 
paid for out of the ransom of the city of Mexico. This was 
oifered to, but rejected by, the State, and is now in the posses- 
sion of the National Lancers. This flag represents California, 
with its untold millions ; it should be reclaimed and placed in 
the State House. The men died ofi" rapidly after their return 
home, and not many are left. They were in a great measure of 
the worst description, and desertions were numerous. The uni- 
form was a cadet gray, with a short coatee and flat cap, wliich 
excited the ridicule of the dandy warriors of the State militia, 
but has been worn by Bluchcr, the royal princes, and victorious 
hosts of Prussia. 



380 LANDMARKS OF BOSTON. 



CHAPTER XIII. 

FROM CHURCH GREEX TO LIBERTY TREE. 

Clmrch Green. — New South C'luircli. — Dr. Kirklaud. — American Headquar- 
ters. — General Heath. — Anectlote of General Gates. — Jerome Bonaj)arte. 

— Sir William Pepperell. — Nathaniel Bowditch. — George Bancroft. — 
Trinity Clmrch. — Seven Star Inn and Lane. — Peter Fanenil. — Governor 
Sullivan. — Small-Pox Parties. — Duke of Kent. — Sir Edmund Andros. 

— Lamb Tavern. — White Horse Tavern. — Colonel Daniel Messinger. — 
Lion Tavern. — Handel and Haydn Society. — Lion Theatre. — Ciuious 
Statement about Rats. 

UIE name of ("hurch Green was applied very early to tlie 
vacant spaee lying at the intersection of Bedford and Sum- 
mer Streets, from which we may infer that it was looked upon 
as a praper site for a meeting-house by the earliest settlers of 
Boston. The land was granted by tlie town to a numljer of 
jietitioners in 1715, of whom Samuel Adams, father of the 
patriot, was one. 

There was not a more beautiful site for a chureli in Boston. 
The ground was high and level, 
the old church having an unob- 
=^ structed outlook over the harbor. 

^^ Samuel Checkley was the first 

pastor, ordained in 1718. Our 
engraving represents the church as 
rebuilt in 1814. The originators 
of the movement for the new 
church held their first meetings at 
^, ■ *j|:^ the old Bull Tavern, at the corner 

ij| :^ of Summer and Sea Stret^ts, of 
": whicli we find mention in 1708. 
The church spire towered to a 
NEW suuru cuuKcu. height of one luuidred and ninety 



FKOM CIIUKCIl GKEEN TO LIBERTY TREE. 381 

feet from the fouiulution. TIic, Luildiiig was of Chelmsford 
granite, and designed by IkUfinch ; a portico projected from 
the front, supported by four Doric columns. In 18G8 it was 
demolished, and the temples of traffic have arisen in its stead. 

Fifty years gone by Summer Street was, beyond disjjute, the 
most beautiful avenue in Boston. Magniticent trees then skirted 
its entire length, overarching tlie driveway Avith interlacing 
branches, so that you walked or rode as within a grove in a 
light softened by the leafy screen, and over the shadows of the 
big elms lying across the pavement. The palaces of trade now 
rear their splendid fronts where stood the gardens or mansions 
of the old merchants or statesmen of Boston. 

The old wooden house — quite respectable for its day — in 
which Dr. John T. Kirkland resided was at the corner of Sum- 
mer and Lincoln Streets. He was the son of the celebrated 
Indian missionary, Samuel Kirkland, founder of Hamilton Col- 
lege, who was instrumental in attacliing the Oneidas to the 
American cause during the Revolution, and acted as chaplain 
to our forces under General Sullivan in 1799. The younger 
Dr. Kirkland, who jiossessed abilities of a liigh order, became, 
in 1810, president of Harvard. Another eminent clergyman, 
Jeremy Belknap, was also a resident of Summer Street. 

Bedford Street was in former times known as Pond Lane, 
from the Town "Watering- Place situated on the east side. A 
line drawn due south from Hawley Street would pass through 
the pond. Blind Lane was a name applied to the lower part 
of the street in 1800. Summer Street was called " ¥•= Mylne 
Street," from its conducting towards Windmill Point, where a 
mill Avas erected, it appears, as early as 1636, the highway to 
it being ordered laid out in 1644. 

As late as 1815 there was a pasture of two acres in Summer 
Street, and the tinkling of cow-bells was by no means an un- 
usual sound there. The fine old estates of the Geyers, Coffins, 
liussells, Barrells, Lydes, Prebles, etc. Avere covered Avith or- 
chards and gardens, and these hospitable residents could set 
before their guests cider of their OAvn manufocture, or butter 
from their oAvn dairies. Chauncv Place, named for the distin- 



382 LANDMARKS OF BOSTON. 

guished pastor of the First Cliureli, -was laid out in 1807, over 
a part of the estate of Ebenezer Preble, brother of Commodore 
Edward, a leading merchant of Boston, and at one time a 
partner of William Gray. Mr. Preble's house Avas on the lower 
corner of Avhat is now Chauncy Street. The estate of the 
First (Jliurch adjoined on the west. 

We have noticed the residence in this street of Daniel Wel)- 
ster, wliich the stranger may llnd Avithout trouble, and Avill not 
pass Avithout rendering silent homage to the matchless abilities 
of that great man. Mr. Webster cared little for money, and 
Avas sometimes pressed by his creditors. On one occasion he 
Avas dunned l)y a needy tradesman for a trifling sum, and, after 
emptying his pockets in A'ain, he liade his visiter Avait until he 
could call on a friend near at hand for the money. The loan 
Avas no sooner asked tlian obtained ; but at hi.s own door ^Ir. 
Webster Avas met by an ajiplication from another friend for a 
deserving charity, to Avhom he gave the money he had bor- 
rowed, and returned emptydianded to liis cretlitor. 

When j\Ir. Webster received Lafayette after the ceremonies 
at Bunker Hill, to give eclat to the occasion and accommodate 
the numerous and distinguished company, a door Avas made con- 
necting Avitli the adjoining house of Mr. Israel Thorndike. 

The bullet Avhich the Marquis receiA'ed in his leg at Brandy- 
Avine Avas the occasion of a graceful compliment by President John 
Quincy Adams. A new frigate Avas ready to launch at Washing- 
ton, in wliicli it AA'as intended Lafayette should take passage for 
France, ami, when all Avas ready, the President, Avho had kept his 
■purpose a secret from every one, himself christened her the Bran- 
dywine, to the surprise of Commodore Tingey and the naval 
constructor, who supposed she Avould be called the Susquehanna. 

Tlie impression has obtained that Boston ceased to be a gar- 
risoned town after the evacuation by Sir William HoAve, and 
the departure of the great body of our own troops for New 
York. This is very far from being the case. Tlie command 
of the toAvn Avas fiRt assumed ])y Putnam, Avas transferred to 
Greene, and linally remained with (leneral Ward, Avhose age 
and inhrmity prevented his taking the iield actively. Ths 



FROM CliUUCH GREEN TO LIBERTY TREE. 383 

camps at Cambridge and lioxbury continued to be the rendez- 
vous of the new levies. The town of Boston was the head- 
quarters of the Eastern District, witli a regular garrison. James 
Urquhart, the British town-major, was succeeded by an American 
officer, Major Swasey, with the same title. Colonel Keith was 
deputy adjutant-general under Heath. 

General Ward was relieved by General Heath in 1777, and 
retired from the army. General Heath established his head- 
quarters at the mansion-house of Hon. Thomas Russell, which 
stood some distance back from Summer Street, a1;)0ut wliere 
Otis Street now is. Here the General entertained D'Estaing, 
Pulaski, Silas Deane, Burgoyne, Phillips, and Riedesel. It was 
the fortune of General Heath to command in Boston while the 
prisoners from Saratoga and Bennington remained at Cambridge, 
and he was soon engaged in a 2)<^tit ffuerre with Burgoyne. Soon 
after the arrival of the convention troops, Phillips proposed to 
General Heath that all orders att'ecting the prisoners should be 
transmitted through their own generals, but the American com- 
mander was not disposed to thus delegate his authority. 

Heath was succeeded by General Gates in October, 1778, who 
arrived with his wife and suite on the 6th of that month and 
assumed the command. Gates, like Washington and Gage, had 
served in the campaign of Braddock, where he was severely 
Avounded, and brought off the field by a soldier for whom lie 
ever after entertained an affectionate regard. Gates was then a 
captain in the British army, and his preserver was a private in 
the royal artillery, named Penfold. The old soldier, having 
been invalided, desired to remain in America, and applied to 
Gates for his advice. We give a part of the reply, which does 
honor to the heart and memory of Gates : — 

" Come and rest your firelock in my chimney-corner, and partake 
with me ; while I have, my savior Penfold shall not want ; arid it 
is my wish, as well as Mrs. Gates's, to see you spend the evening 
of your life comfortably. Mrs. Gates desires to be aff'ectionately 
remembered to you." 

Boston can thus boast of having been commanded by the 
ablest generals on either side of the Revolutionary struggle. 



384 laxdmai:ks of boston. 

General Gates was said to liavc lived at one time Avitli lii.s father 
in the service of Charles, l)uke of IJoltnn. It was his fortune 
to have achieved the greatest victory of the Revolution at Sara- 
toga, and sustained the most complete defeat at Camden, of any 
officer commanding in that v/ar. 

The liussell mansion was afterwards occupied as a pid^lic 
house by Leon Chappotin. Jerome Bona}>arte, after his mar- 
riage Avith Miss Patterson at Baltimore, mavle a visit to Boston, 
and lodged here for a time. It will he recollected that this 
marriage was never sanctioned l)y the Emperor. Otis Place, 
now Street, was laid out througli the estate of Sir A\'illiam 
Pepperell. 

The Sir "William Pepperell of our notice Avas the gramlson 
of the captor of Louishiu'g, and son of Colonel Nathaniel Spar- 
liawk. By the tenor of his grandfather's will, Avhich made him 
the residuaiy legatee of the Baronet's possessions, he was re- 
quired to change his name to Pepperell. This was done by an 
act of the Massachusetts Legislature. The Ijaronetcy became 
extinct Avith the decease of the elder Sir AVilham, and AA'as re- 
created l)y the king for the beneht of his grandson in 1774. 
Tlie younger Sir AVilliam Avas a stanch friend of tlie mother 
country, and Avas one of the King's ]\Iandamus Councillors in 
1774. He left America with the Poyalists in 1775, and his 
large estates in Boston and in Maine were confiscated. 

At JSTo. 8 Otis Place lived Nathaniel BoAvditch, so long 
Actuary of tlie Massachusetts Hospital Life Insurance Company 
in Boston. Born in poverty, after serving an apprenticeship to 
a ship-chandler until he Avas twenty-one, and folloAving the sea 
for a number of years, he published in 1800, before he AA^as 
thirty, his Avork on navigation. His commentary on the cele- 
brated Memnique Celeste of Lajilace established his fame as 
one of the leading scientific minds of either the Old or New 
World. His son, Nathaniel IngersoU, had improA^ed an anti- 
quarian taste by exhaustive researches among the records of the 
toAvn and colony, and the articles from his pen under the sig- 
nature of " Gleaner " Avere of the greatest interest to all students 
of our local history. His contemporary " Sigma " (L. M. Sar- 



FROM CIIUIICII GREEN TO LIBERTY TREE. 385 

gent), "vviclded in the same cause a Lrilliant and caustic pen, 
investing the characters of the dead i)ast with life and action. 

At the corner of Wintln-op and Otis Place was the residence 
of George Bancroft in 18-tO, at which time he was Collector of 
the port of Boston. His History of the United States, begim 
in 1834 and just completed, is the most extensive work on 
tliat subject now extant. Mr. Bancroft entered the cabinet of 
President Polk as Secretary of the Navy in 1845, establishing, 
while at the head of his bureau, the Xaval Academy at Anna- 
polis. He is now our minister at Berlin. 

The estate at the southwest corner of Summer and Chaun- 
cy Streets was the property of the First Church, having been 
conveyed to it in 1G80. The greater jiart of the original place 
Avas laid out over the church estate to gain access to the church, 
whicli was placed upon that part of the ground in the rear of 
Sunnuer Street formerly the garden of the parsonage. Four 
brick dwellings were built on the Summer Street front by 
Benjamin Joy in 1808. Before this took idace the ground was 
occu})ied by the parsonage. One of the jiastors who tilled the 
pulpit after the removal to this locality was William Emerson, 
father of Italpli Waldo Emerson, the essayist and poet. His 
ministrations continued from 1799 to 1811, and he had the 
distinction of preaching the first sermon here. 

After sixty years' service, the house in C/hauncy Place was 
deserted by the society for the new and elegant temple at the 
corner of ]\Iarlborough and Berkeley Streets, which was occu- 
pied December, 18G8. An enduring relic of the "Old Brick" 
church remains in a slab of slate taken from beneath a window 
in the second story, south side, on which is inscribed, — 

" Bumed to ashes October 3, 1711. 
Rebuilding June 25th. 1712. July 20, 1713." 

The Post-Office occupied this corner in 1859, at whicli time 
Nahum Capen Avas postmaster ; but remained only until the 
next year, the site not lieing considered an -eligible one. 

By the year 1728 King's Chapel could not accommodate its 
numerous parishioners at the south part of the town, and steps 
were taken to build an Episcopal church at the comer of Haw- 
17 Y 



O O I ■ 



LAN] )M AUKS OF BOSTON. 



If}- aiul Summer 8tri'et.-i. Tlie conier-stono av;is not laid, liow- 
ever, until ITS-t, when ]Mr. Commissary Price of King's Chapel 
oliiciated at this ceremony. The next year it was opened 
for worship. Among the lirst officers we tind the familiar 
names of Charles Apthorp, Benjamin Faneuil, I'hilip Dumares(|, 
William Coffin, and Thomas Aston. Eev. Addington Daven- 
port, a brother-in-law of Peter Faneuil, Avho had been an 
assistant at King's Chapel in 1737, Avas the first rector of 
Trinity. 

The first building was of Avood. It Avas ninety feet long, and 
sixty broad, Avithout any external adornment. It had neither 

tower nor stee- 
ph', nor Avin- 
dows in the low- 
er story of the 
front. There 
Avere three en- 
trances in front 
unprotected by 
porches. The 
i n t e r i o r av a s 
i;omposed of an 
arcli resting up- 
on Corintliian 

OLD TRIMTY CIHRCH. pilbu'S AV 1 1 ll 

handsomely carved and gilded capitals. In the chancel Avero 
some paintings, considered very beautiful in their day. Taken 
altogether, Trinity miglit boast the handsomest interior of 
any cburch in Poston of its time. In 1828 it Avas supplanted 
by the granite edifice seen in our view on the opposite page, 
Pev. Jolm S. J. Gardiner laying the corner-stone. Trinity, like 
the other Episcopal churches, has tombs underneath it. 

AVe do not learn that Trinity received any special marks of 
royal faA'or, such as were sliown to its predecessors, King's 
Cliapel and Clnnst Churcli. To the former the king and queen 
(William and ]Mary) gavi', besides the communion plate, a pul- 
]>it-cloth, a cusliioii, and a painting Avliicli reached from the top 




FROM CHURCH GKEKN TO LIBERTY TREE. 



387 



to tlie bottom of the cast end of tlie cliun-li, containing tlio 
Decalogue, tlie Lord's Prayer, and the Apostles' Creed. But 
Governor Shirley, who had so liberally aided the Chapel, gave 
Trinity a service 'for communion, table-cloths, and books. Peter 
Faneuil had in 1741 ottered £100 towards an organ, l)ut one 
Avas not procured until 1744. 

"When General Washington Avas in Boston in 1789 he passed 
the Sabbath here, and went to hear 
Dr. (afterwards Bishop) Parker in the 
forenoon, and to lirattle Street in the 
afternoon, where he sat in Governor 
Bowdoin's pew. 

Curiously enough. Trinity Church 
occupies the site of the old " Pleiades " 
or " Seven Star Inn," from which Sum- 
mer Street took its ancient name of 
Seven Star Lane. There was another 
sign of the same name displayed by trinitv cuurcu in is72. 
AVilliam Whit well, a tradesman near the drawbridge, in 1763. 

I'eter Faneuil occupied pew No. 40 in Old Trinity. We 
may easily picture him descending from his chariot on a Sun- 





day morning Avhile his negro coachman assists him to alight. 
We doubt not the heads of the young Boston belles were 
turned towards the wealthy baclielor as he ailvanced up the 
aisle to his devotions. His good brother Davenport no doubt 
enjoyed those perquisites so pleasantly referred to by Pope 
when he says, — 

" He that liatli these may pass liis life, 
Drink with the 'squire, and kiss his wife ; 
On Sundays preach, and eat hisfill ; 
And fast on Fridays, — if he will ; 



388 LANDMARKS OF BOSTON. 

Toast Church and Queen, explain the news, 
Talk with church-wardens about jjews, 
Pray heartily for some new gift, 
And shake his head at Dr. Swift. " 

The corner of Hawley Street, next below Trinity, will be 
remembere'tl as the estate of Governor James Sullivan and 
of Lieutenant-Ciovernor Gray. 

Governor Sullivan was the brother of the Eevolutionaiy 
general; was elected governor of Massachusetts in 1807, and 
re-elected in 1808. He had been a member of the Massachu- 
setts Provincial Congress ; Judge of the Superior Court ; and 
Delegate to Congress in 178-1, from the District of INIaine Avhere 
he then resided. Mr. Sullivan was also a member of the State 
Constitutional Convention, and one of the Ci:>nimissionei's ap- 
pointed by Washington to settle the boundary between the 
United States and British Provinces. AYilliam Sullivan, son 
of the go.vernor, was a distingnished lawyer and scholar. He 
was a stanch Federalist, and wrote an able vindication of that 
party. 

When Governor Sullivan was before the people as a candi- 
date, it is said a caricature appeared in tlie Centinel reflecting 
severely npon his integrity. His son, Pichard Snllivan, way- 
laid Benjamin Pussell, the editor, in the vicinity of Scollay's 
Buildings, as he was proceeding to the office from his residence 
in Pinckney Street, and after demanding of Pussell if he was 
responsible for all that appeared in his paper, antl receiving an 
affirmative answer, struck him a blow across the face Avith his 
cane, leaving liussell staggered by the violence and suddenness 
of the attack. 

The elder Levi Lincoln was lieutenant-governor Avith Gov- 
ernor Sullivan, and on his decease became acting governor. 
His son Levi was lieutenant-governor in 1823, and goA^ernor 
in 1825-34:. Another son, Enoch, Avas governor of JNIaine in 
1827-29. On the decease of their mother, INIartlia Lincoln, 
her remains Avere fullowed to the grave by her two sons, then 
chief magistrates of two States. 

Joseph Barrell, Avhom Ave liaA-e mentioned in our view of 
Franklin Street, Avas one of the foremost of the old merchants 



FROM CHURCH GREEN TO LIBERTY TREE. 389 

of Boston. His name stands first on tlie list of directors of 
tlie Old United States Bank, in company with John Codnian, 
Caleb DaA'is, Christopher Gore, John Coffin Jones, John Low- 
ell, Theodore Lyman, Jonathan Mason, Jr., Joseph Eussell, Jr., 
David Sears, Israel Thorndike, and William Wetmore, 

It is related that a person carried to a l)ank in Pennsylvania 
some bills which that bank had issued, and demanded gold and 
silver for them. He was answered that the bank did not pay 
gold or silver. " Give me, then," said he, " bills of the United 
States Bank." " We have none." " Then give me bills on 
any bank in New England." " We have none of these." " Pay 
me, then, in the best counterfeit bills you have." 

The reader will perhaps experience some incredulity when he 
is told that, before the discovery of the present mode of vaccina- 
tion, small-j)ox parties were among the fasliionable gatherings 
of Old Boston. The guests Avere inoculated, and withdrew for 
a time from the world. An invitation of this kind appears in 
the following extract from a letter of Joseph Barrell, dated 
July 8, 1776 : — 

" Mr. Storer has invited Mrs. Martin to take the small-pox at his 
house : if Mrs. Wentworth desires to get rid of her fears in the same 
way, we will accommodate her in the best way we can. I 've several 
friends that I 've invited, and none of them will be more welcome 
than Mrs. W." * 

Joseph Barrell occupied store No. 3, south side of the Town 
Hock, where he advertised brown sugar, double and treble re- 
iined, looking-glasses, wine, oil, etc. 

He was the owner of the triangitlar estate at the junction of 
Washington with Brattle Street, of which he gave a portion to 
the town for the widening of the latter. 

The tine granite structure of the JMessrs. Hovey stands on 
the site of the ohl-time mansion of the Yassalls, erected by 
Leonard Vassall, whose son William built the house on Pem- 
berton Hill, afterwards the residence of Gardiner Greene. 
Thomas Hubbard, Avho preceded Hancock as Treasurer of Har- 
vard College, and Frederick Geyer, who left Boston with the 

* Brewster's Portsmouth. 



390 LANDMAIiKS OF BOSTON. 

iidlieronts of the crown, were siil)sequent proprietors ; as tlic 
estate of tlie latter it was conliscated, but was sulxsequeutly 
restored. 

When tlie Duke of Kent, son of TJeorge III., and father of 
Victoria, the reigning Queen of England, was in Boston, he was 
present at the wedding of Nancy W. Geyer, who married IJufus 
G. Aniory. Prince Edward, as he was then styled, did not in- 
cline to visit Lieutenant-Governor Samuel Adams. 

8t)uth of the Vassall-Geyer property was the estate of John 
Itowe,Avhose house — subsequently that of Judge Prescott, father 
of the historian — stood upon the spot lately occupied by Dr. 
Eobbins's Gluirch in Bedford Street, opposite tlie English High 
and Latin Schools. A wharf and street once handed down the 
name of ]iowe, — as true a friend to his country as any Avhoso 
names luiA'e reached a greater renown, — but the wharf alone 
retains this title. Lowe Street, which was given to and accepted 
by the city on condition that it should be so called, has be- 
come since ISoG absorbed in Chauncey Street, that part lying 
between IJedford and Summer Streets having been previous to 
this divided by an iron fence, the S(Uitherly jiortion being 
known as Bedford and the northeily as Ghauncey I'lace. 

Bidding adieu to Sunmier Street, Ave ])ause for a moment at 
what was formerly Bethune's Corner, where now are the glit- 
tering shop-wimlows of Shreve, Crump, and Low, and where 
a ceaseless human tide, crossing the narrow street, struggles with 
the passing vehicles. From the old mansion-house of Thomas 
English, which stood here, was buried Benjamin Eaneuil. 

Looking in the direction of the Old South, a little north of 
Summer Street, was the reputed residence oi Sir Edmund An- 
dros, wlio dwelt, it is said, in an old house which disappeared 
ul)out 171)0, and which stood nearly on the spot now occupied 
by W. H. Allen, I'lC Washington Street. This tradition ex- 
isted early in the }>resent century, ami may have been true, 
though it coidd not have been tlie habitation of the knight 
when Latly .Vndros, to whose funeral we have referred in a 
former cha})ter, died. Andros was governor of Xew England 
only three years. AVe knov.' that his country-seat was at 



FROM CHUECII GREEN TO LIBERTY TREE. 391 

Dorchester, — it was still standing in 1825, — and there is 
ahundant evidence that he lived in lioston, but none that we 
are aware of, that he owned an estate here. Though a change 
of residence was less common among the old inhabitants of 
Boston than at the present day, it was no anomaly. 

Earl Bellomont, writing to the Lords of Trade from Boston, 
in 1698, says he paid £ 100 a year for a house, besides his 
charge for a stable, and continues in the following strain : — 

"It is for the King's lioiKiur tliat his Goveraour have, a house ; 
there is a very good house plot where Sir Edmund Andres lived in 
the best part of the town. 'T is the least of their thoughts I doubt 
to build a house for the King's Governour." 

This refers without doubt to Cotton Hill or the vicinity, 
which was then the best part of the town, and Andros only 
followed the example of Endicott, Bellingham, and Vane, when 
he located there. The region lying around Summer Street Avas 
then considered remote, and less than fifty years ago, when Ann 
Bent kept a little shop on the spot where the despotic old 
dragoon of Prince Rupert is said to have dwelt, her customers 
at the North End complained that she was too far out of 
town. 

Threading our way through old Newbury Street with our 
face towards the south, we pass the old stand of Thomas and 
Andrews. As early as the great fire of 1711, Increase Mather 
says, there were seven booksellers' shops in Boston. In 17-17 
the Exchange (Old State House) was surrounded with book- 
sellers' shops, there being at the same time no less than live 
printing-offices in the town, which were generally well em- 
ployed, deriving their chief support from the colleges and 
schools of New England. At this time the Boston Gazette 
Avas printed twice a week. Thomas printed the Spy in " Union 
Street, near the market," " at the south corner of Marshall's 
Lane, leading from the Mill Bridge into L^nion Street," and 
" at the bottom of Royal Exchange Lane near the Market, 
Dock Square," besides Back Street, where the first number Avas 
probably printed. 

We cannot jjass by the neighborhood of Avon Street Avith- 



392 LANDMARKS OF BOSTON. 

out thinking of old IJarlliolomow Green and liis News Letter, 
of Benjamin Cliurcli and his treachery, of Margaret Fuller and 
her iintimely fate, any more than we can pass the Old South 
without thinking of the riding-school, or Bunker Hill Monu- 
ment without thinking of Prescott and Warren. 

A group of taverns next claims our attention. The inns of 
Old London rendered ;;p their names freely to their colonial 
imitators, and our older residents might drink their punch 
under the same signs they were used to frecpient beneath the 
shadow of Old Saint Paul's. We have had no Johnson with 
his corner at the Mitre, no Dryden with his sniig retreat at Will's 
CofTeediouse, nor can we show any as famous as Button's, where 
Poj)e, Steele, Swift, Arbuthnot, and Addison were wont to 
assemble at " the best head in England " ; but we liave visited 
some where matters more serious than wit and sentiment were 
discussed, and where measures were digested more important to 
mankind. 

We commend to our modern hotel-keepers the following ex- 
tract from a law enacted about 1G49 : — 

"Nor shall any take tobacco in any inne, or common victual 
house, except in a private room there, so as the master of said house 
nor any guest there shall take offence thereat ; which if any do, 
then such persons shall forbear, upon pain of two shillings and 
sixpence for every such offence." 

We come first to the Adams House, Avhich stamls on the 
ground formerly occupied by the Lamb Tavern, sometimes styled 
the White Lamb. The " Land) " was an unpretending building 
of two stories, but of good repute in Old Boston. The sign is 
noticed as early as 1746. Colonel Doty kept at the sign of the 
Lamb in 1700 ; Edward Kingman kept it in 1826 ; after which 
it was conducted successively by Laban Adams, for whom the 
house was named, father of " Oliver Optic " (W. T. Adams), and 
by A. S. Allen. The first stage-coach to Providence, advertised 
July 20, 1 767, by Tliomas Sabin, put up at the sign of the Lamb. 

The White Horse Tavern was a few rods south of the Lamb, 
situated nearly opposite the mansion-house of Dr. Lemuel Hay- 
ward, physician and surgeon, from whose estate Hayward Place 



FROM CHURCH GREEN TO LIBERTY TREE. 393 

is named. It had a large square sign projecting over the foot- 
Avay, on which was deUneated a white charger. AVe lind this 
tavern mentioned in 1794, and infer that it was tlie rendezvous 
of one of the companies of the Boston Eegiment, as young 
Woodbridgc came here for his sword before meeting Phillips on 
the Common. It was kept by Joseph Morton, father of Perez 
Morton, in ITfiO, and for a long time thereafter. In 1787 
Israel Hatch became mine host ; Ave append his advertisement 
entire' : — 

TAKE NOTICE ! 

Entertainment for 

Gentlemen and Ladies 

At the White Horse Tavern, 

Newbury-Street. 

My friends and travellers, you '11 meet 

With kindly welcome and good clieer, 

And what it is you now shall hear : 

A spacious house and liquors good, 

A man who gets his livelihood 

By favours granted ; hence he '11 be 

Always smiling, always free : 

A good large liouse for chaise or chair, 

A stable well expos'd to air : 

To finish all, and make you Idest, 

You '11 have the breezes from the west. 

And — ye, who flee tli' approaching Sol, 

My doors are open to your call ; 

Walk in — and it shall be my care 

T' oblige the weary traveller. 

From Attleborough, Sirs, I came, 

Wlu-re once I did you entertain. 

And now shall here as there before 

Attend you at my open door, 

Obey all orders with despatch, 

— Am, Sirs, your servant, 

Israel Hatch. 
Boston, May 14, 1787. 

Colonel Daniel ]\Iessinger, who was always in request to sing 

the odes on public occasions, commenced business near the 

Lamb Tavern in 1789. He was l)y trade a hatter, and had 

served an apprenticeship with Nathaniel Balch (Governor Han- 

17* 



39-i LANDMARKS OF BOSTON. 

cock's flivorite) at 72 Old Curuliill. Colonel Messinger had a 
voice of great strength and purity, and had sung in presence of 
Washington, Lafayette, Jerome Bonaparte, and other distin- 
guished personages. 

Another neighbor of the Lamb was the Lion Tavern, on the 
site of the present Melodeon. Its sign was the traditional 
British Lion, but it seems to have lived on terms of amity with 
its peacefid neighl)or. The tavern at length passed into the 
possession of the Handel and Haydn Society, and was devoted 
to the performance t)f oratorios. This society organized 30th 
March, 1815, and first met at CJraupuer's Hall, Franklin Street. 
The original number of members Avas thirty-one, and their first 
l^ublic performance was given in King's Chapel, Christmas 
evening, LSI 5, Avhen selections from the Creation, JMessiah, etc. 
were given in presence of an audience of upwards of a thousand 
persons. The Lion was, in 1789, called the Turk's Head. 

Tlie Lion Tavern estate was called the Melodeon by the 
Handel and Haydn Society, in place of which Ave noAv have the 
splendid structure of the same name. The first jNIeludeon Avas 
occupied by Lev. Theodore Parker's society on Sundays. Both 
societies removed later to Music Hall in Winter Street. 

In 1835 the Lion Tavern became the property of Mr. James 
Eaymond, and Avas iunncdiatdy transformed into an amphi- 
theatre, uuiler the name of tlie Lion Theatre. It opened in 
January, 183G, Avith a comedy by Buckstone, su])plemented by 
equestrian perfn'mances. JNIr. J. V>. Booth a})i)eared at this 
tlieatre in ]\Liy, 1830. It passed tlirough varying fortunes 
iintil 18f4, Avhen, after it had been rechristened the Melodeon, 
Mr. .Macready and INIiss Cushman appeared here for a short 
season. Jenny Lind, Sontag, and Alboni, all gave concei'ls at 
the Melodeon. 

There seems to haA^e been a time in the history of Boston 
when the settlers Avere called upon to Avage a war of externuna- 
tion against a domestic enemy, one Avhich they had undoubtedly 
brought among themselves. Our readers haA'e heard of a bounty 
for the scalps of savages, Avolves' ears, and bears' cLiaa^s, but 
never yierhaps of a jnice l)eing set upon rats, as the following 



FROM CHURCH GREEN TO LIBERTY TREE. 395 

extract from the town records, selected from a number of 
tiie same description, will sliow was ouce the case : — 

" On the first day of January, 1743, the Selectmen gave a certifi- 
cate to the Province Treasurer, that they had paid out of the Town 
Stock to sundry persons for DiSO Eats killed m or near the Town, 
since the last day of August, ,£154. 13' 4* old tenor — and desired 
him to pay the same to Joseph Wadsworth Escp-., Town Treasurer." 



396 LANDMARKS OF BOSTON. 



CHAPTEE XIV. 

LIBERTY TREE AND THE NEIGHBORHOOD. 

Liberty Tree. — Its History. — Hanover Square. — Liberty Hall. — Hanging 
in Effigy. — Aucliiiuity's Lane. — The Old Suffolk Bench and Bar. — 
Boylstou Market. — C'liarle.s Matthews. — James E. Murdoch. — Peggy 
Moore's. — Washington Bank. — Beach Street Museum. — Essex Street. — 
Rainsford's Lane. — Harrison Avenue. • — Admiral Sir Isaac Coffin. — Gen- 
eral John Coffin. — Anecdote of Admiral Coffin. — Sir Thomas Aston 
Coffin. — Henry Bass. — Old Distill-houses. — Manufacture of Rum. — 
Gilbert Stuart, — Anecdotes of. — First Glass Works. — Disappearance of 
Trees. — Early Planting of Trees. — Sir Roger Hale Slieaffe. — South 
Cove. — Hollis Street. — Colonel John Crane. — General Ebenezer Stevens. 
— Mather Byles, — Anecdotes of. — Hollis Street Church. — Fire of 1767. 

LAFAYETTE said, when in Boston, " Tlie world should 
never forget the spot where once stood Liberty Tree, so 
famous in your annals." It has been the care of David Sears 
that this injunction should not fall to the ground unheeded. 

In the wall of the building at the southeast corner of Essex 
Street, at its junction with Washington, we see a handsome 
freestone bas-relief, representing a tree with wide-spreading 
branches. This memorial is placed directly over the spot where 
stood the famed Liberty Tree. An inscription informs us that 

it commemorates : — 

Liberty 1776 

Law and Order 

Sons of Liberty 1766 

Independence of their country 1776. 

The open space at the four corners of "Washington, Essex, 
and Boylston Streets was once known as Hanover Square, from 
the royal house of Hanover, and sometimes as the Elm Neigh- 
borliood, from the magnificent elms with which it Avas environetl. 
It was one of the linest of these that obtained the name of Lib- 
erty Tree, from its being used on the first occasion of resistance 
to the obnoxious Stamp Act. In 1774 this tree, with another, 



LIBERTY TREE AND THE NEIGHBORHOOD. 



397 



stood in the enclosure of an old-foshioned dwellin;^' at tlie his- 
toric corner; in 17GG, wlien tlic repeal of the Stamp Act took 
place, a large copper plate was fastened to the tree inscribed in 
golden characters : — 

"Tliis tree was planted in the year 1646, and pruned by order of the Sons of 
Liberty, Feb. 14th, 1766." 

In August, 1775, the name of Liberty having become offen- 
sive to the tories and their British allies, the tree was cut down 
by a party led by one Job Williams. " Armed with axes, they 
made a furious attack upon it. After a long spell of laughing 
and grinning, sweating, swearing, and foaming, with malice 
diabolical, they cut down a tree because it bore the name of 
Liberty." * Some idea of the size of the tree may be formed 

from the fact that it made 
fourteen cords of wood. 
The jesting at the expense 
of the Sons of Liberty 
had a sorry conclusion ; 
one of the soldiers, in at- 
tempting to remove a 
limb, fell to the pavement 
and was killed. 

The ground immedi- 
ately about Liberty Tree 
was popularly known as 
Liberty Hall. In August, 
1767, a flagstaff had been 
erected, which went 
tlirough and extended 
above its highest branches. 
A flag hoisted upon this staff Avas the signal for the assembling 
of the Sons of Liberty for action. Captain IMackintosh, the 
last captain of the Popes, was the lirst captain-general of 
Liberty Tree, and had charge of the illuminations, hanging of 
effigies, etc. 

* Essex Gazette, 1775. 




LIBERTY TREE. 



398 LANDMARKS OF BOSTON. 

After tlic old war was over a liberty-pole was erected on the 
stump of tlie tree, the latter long serving as a point of direction 
known as Liberty Stump. A second pole was placed in posi- 
tion on the 2d July, 182(1. It was intended to have been raised 
during the visit of Lafayette in 1825, and the following lines 
were written by Judge' Dawes : — ■ 

" Of liigh renown, Iiero grew the Tree, 
Tlie Elm so clear to Liberty ; 
Your sires, beneatli its sacred shade, 
To Freedom early homage paid. 
This day with filial awe surround 
Its root, that sanctifies the ground, 
And by your fathers' spirits swear, 
The rights they left you '11 not imjjair." 

Governor Bernard, writing to Lord Hillsborough undar date 
of June 18, 17G8, gives the following account of Liberty 
Tree : — 

" Your Lordship must know that Lilierty ti'ce is a large old Elm 
in the High Street, upon which the effigies were hung m the time 
of the Stamp Act, and from whence the mobs at that time made 
their parades. It has since l>eeu adorned with an mscription, and 
has obtained the name of Liberty Tree, as the ground under it has 
that of Liberty Hall. Li August last, just before the commencement 
of the present troubles, they erected a flagstaff, wdiich went through 
the tree, and a good deal above tlie top of the tree. Upon this they 
hoist a flag as a signal for the Sons of Lil:)erty, as they are called. I 
gave my Lord Shellnirne an account of this erection at the time it 
was made. This tree has often ptit me in mind of Jack Cade's Oak 
of Reformation." 

Liberty Tree Tavern in 1833 occupied the spot wdiere once 
Liberty Tree stood. It was kept by G. Cummings. In its im- 
mediate vicinity and opposite the Boylston Market was Lafiiy- 
ette Hotel, built in 1824, and kept by S. Haskell in the year 
above mentioned. 

The Sons of Liberty adopted the name given them by Colonel 
Barre in a speech in Parliament, in which he took occasion thus 
to characterize those who evinced a disposition to resist the 
oppressive measvtres of the ]\Iinistry. Under the branches of 
Liberty Tree tliat resistance first showed itself by public acts. 



LIBERTY TREE AND THE NEIGHBORHOOD. 309 

At daybreak on tlio 14th August, 17G5, nearly ten years 
before active hostilities broke out, an effigy of Mr. Ohver, the 
Stamp officer, and a boot, with tlie Devil peeping out of it, — 
an allusion to Lord Ihite, — were discovered lianging from 
Liberty Tree. The images remained hanging all day, and were 
visited by great numbers of people, both from the town and 
the neighboring country. Business was almost suspended. 
Lieutenant-Governor Hutchinson ordered the sheriff to take 
the figures down, but he was obliged to admit that he dared 
not do so. 

As the day closed in the effigies were taken down, placed 
upon a bier, and, followed by several thousand people of every 
class and condition, proceeded first to the Town House, and 
from thence to the supposed office of the Stamp Master, as has 
been detailed in that connection. With materials obtained 
from the ruins of the building, the procession moved to Fort 
Hill, where a bonfire was lighted and the effigies consumed in 
full view of Mr. Oliver's house. Governor Bernard and council 
were in session in the Town House when the procession passed 
through it, as the lower floor of the building left open for public 
promenade j)ermitted them to do. In the attacks Avhich fol- 
lowed upon the houses of the secretary, lieutenant-governor, 
and officers of the admiralt}^ IVIackintosh appears to have been 
the leader. In these proceedings the records of the court of 
Adce-admiralty were destroyed, — an irreparal)le loss to the prov- 
ince and to history. Mackintosh Avas arrested, but immediately 
released on the demand of a number of persons of character 
and property. 

INIr. Oliver now publicly declared his intention of resigning, 
and when the stamps arrived in Boston in September they were 
sent to Castle "William. In November there was another hang- 
ing in effigy of two of the king's advisers. The anniversary of 
Pope Day was celebrated by a union of the rival factions, who 
met in amity and refreshed themselves under Liberty Tree 
before proceeding to Copp's Hill, as was customary. But the 
greatest act which occurred under this famous tree was the 
public declaration of Secretary Oliver that he would not in any 



400 LANDMARKS OF BOSTON. 

yvay, hj liimself or by floputy, perfurm the duties of stamp 
nuister. The Secretary, desirous of less puhhcity, had requested 
that the ceremony mig'ht take place at tlie Town Hrtuse, ])ut 
the "Sons" had detcnuinc(l that the "Tree" was the proper 
place, and j\Ir. Oliver presented himself there. Uesides this 
declaration, subscribed to before liichard Dana, justice of the 
peace, Mr. Oliver fully recanted his sentiments in favor of the 
Stamp Act, and desired the people no longer to look upon 
him as an enemy, but as a friend, • — • a piece of duplicity 
fully ex})osed by the discovery of his correspondence on the 
subject. 

On the l-fth Feltruary, 17GG, the tree was pruned under the 
direction of skillful persons, and on the 20th the plate was 
attached. On this day the ceremony of burning stamped papers, 
and the effigies of Bute and Grenville, took place at the gallows 
on the Neck, the Sons returning to Hanover Square, where they 
drank his Majesty's health and other toasts expressive of their 
loyalty to the throne. 

From this time all measures of pulilic concern were discussed 
by the Sons of Liberty under the umbrageous shelter of theu* 
adored tree. The affiiir of Hancock's sloop, the arrival of the 
troops, the Non-importation Act, each received the attention 
they merited. On the 14tli August, 17G9, anniversary of the 
first Stamp Act proceedings, and " the day of the Union and 
firmly combined Association of the Sons of Liberty in this 
Province," there was a great assembly under Lil)erty Tree. 
Many came from great distances. Eeed and Dickinson (a 
brother of John Dickinson) were present from Philadelphia. 
Peyton Pandolph was expected, but did not come. The British 
flag was hoisted over the tree, and, after drinking fourteen 
toasts, tlie meeting adjourned to Robinson's Tavern, Dorchester, 
known also as the sign of the Lil)erty Tree, where the day was 
passed in festivity and mirth. John Adams was present, and 
has left an account of the gatliering, into Avhich we should not 
have to look in vain for Samuel Adams, Otis, and their com- 
patriots. 

After the establishment of tlie tmojis in Boston the necessity 



LIBERTY TREE AND THE NEIGHBORHOOD. 401 

for secrecy in their movements compelled the j)atriots to resort 
to the clubs for conference. The tree, however, had borne its 
part in the acts preliminary to the great conflict which ensued, 
and to pilgrims to the shrines of American history the spot 
where it once stood must ever jiossess an interest second to no 
other in this historic city. 

" Tlie tree tlieir owu hands had to liherty reareil 
Tliey lived to beliold growing strong and revered ; 
With tran.s])ort then cried, ' Now our wislies we gain, 
For our eliildren shall gather the fruits of our pain.' 
In freedom we 're born, and in freedom we '11 live ; 
Our ])urses are ready, — 
Steady, friends, steady ; — 
Not as slaves, but as freemen, our money we '11 give." 

Samuel Adams, a namesake of the Revolutionary patriot and 
an old resident of Xorth End, had in his possession until his 
death, in 1855, a flag which was used on the liberty-pole 
j)rior to the Revolution, and which he displayed on public 
occasions with great satisfection. Some services wdiich he jier- 
formed on the patriots' side, in which he sustained losses, jiro- 
cured him a small appropriation from the State. 

The hanging of effigies appears to have originated in England 
in 17G3. This was at Honiton, in Devonshire, famous for its' 
lace manufacture, two years before the exhibitions in Boston 
from the limbs of Liberty Tree. A tax having been levied 
upon cider, the effigy of the minister concerned in it was sus- 
pended from an apple-tree that grew over the road, with the 
following lines affixed to it : — 

" Behold the man Avho made the yoke 
Which doth Old England's sons provoke, 
And now he hangs upon a tree, 
An emblem of our liberty." 

Essex Street was the line of division between old Newbury 
and Orange Streets. Xewbury reached to Winter Street, wliile 
(Jrange conducted from the fortifications on the Xeck mto town ; 
its name was no doubt given in honor of the Prince of Orange. 
Essex Street, which was named in 1708, was also called Audi- 
muty's Lane, for the family so distinguished in the history of 
the old Suff^olk Bar. 



402 LANDMARKS OF BOSTON, 

The elder Robert Auclimuty was a barrister during the ad- 
ministration of Eelclier and Shirley, and in his'latter } ears judge- 
advocate of the Court of Admiralty. 

The younger Auchmuty was judge of the same court when 
the Eevolution began. His associates at the bar were Eead, 
Pratt, Gfidley, Trowbridge, Adams, Otis, the gifted Thacher, 
and the Ijrilliant Quincy. He was born in Boston, and assisted 
Adams and Quincy in the defence of Captain Preston, for his 
participation in the massacre in King Street. His residence was 
in School Street, next the old Extinguisher Enginehouse. 
A ue})hew, Sir Samuel Auchmuty, born in New York, fought 
against his countrymen in the service of King George. 

Benjamin Pratt, afterwards chief justice of Xew York, mar- 
ried a daughter of tlie old Judge Auchmuty. He was a small, 
thin man, and fnim the loss of a Ynnh Avas o!)Iiged to use 
crutches. It was of him that John Adams said " that he had 
looked witli wonder to see such a little l)ody hung upon two 
sticks send Ibrth such eloquence and displays of mind." Pratt's 
office was in the second house north of the corner of Court Street 
in Old Ciirnhill, where GouLl and Lincoln's bookstore now is ; 
his country-seat was on Milton Hill. 

Oxenbridge Tliacher's office was opposite the south door of 
the Old State House. Sampson Salter Blowers, eminent at the 
same bar, lived in Southack's Court (Howard Street). Gridley, 
Avith whom James ( Jtis studied, lived in a house next north of 
Cornhill Square. John Adams's office was in a house next 
above AVilliam ]\Hnot's, which was on Court Street, opposite 
the Court House, where now stands Minot's Building. Eead 
built and lived in the house described as Mr. JMiuot's. Cazneau 
lived in a house next east of the Court House. Chief Justice 
Dana's father lived at the corner of Wilson's Lane. John 
Quincy Atlams's office was in Court Street. 

Before the Eevolution eight dollars was the fee in an impor- 
tant cause, five dollars was the limit for a jury argument, two 
dollars for ,a continuance. Tlum the lawyers went the circuits 
with the judges. The courtesy and dignity which distinguished 
the intercourse between bencli and bar did not continue under 



LIBERTY TREE AND THE NEIGHBORHOOD. 403 

the new order of things, if wo in;iy credit Fislier Ames, who, 
in allusion to the austerity of the court, supposed to be Judge 
Paine, and the manners of the attorneys, remarked, that a 
lawyer should go into court with a elulj in one hand and a 
speaking-trumpet in the other. Chii'f Justice I'arsons and 
Judge Sedgwick Avere the last barristers Avlio sat n])on tlie 
bench. Perez IMorton and Judge AVetmore were the last sur- 
vivors who had attained the degree. 

Boylston Market, Avlien opened to the pulJic in 1810, was 
considered far out of town. It Svas named to honor the benev- 
olent and philanthropic Ward J^icholas Boylston, a descend- 
ant of that Dr. Zabdiel Boylston so famous in the history of 
inoculation. The parties interested in the movement met at 
the E.Kchange Coft'ee House on the 17th of January, 1809, 
when their arrangements were perfected. John (^)iiincy Adams, 
Avho then lived in Boylston Street, was much interested in the 
new market, and made a brief address at the laying of the 
corner-stone. The building was designed by Bulhnch, and ]VIr. 
Boylston presented the clock. In 1870 the solid brick struc- 
ture Avas moved back from the street eleven feet AA'ithout disturb- 
ing the occupants. Before the erection of this market-house, 
Faneuil Hall Market Avas the principal source of su})ply for the 
inhabitants of this remote quarter. 

Boylston Hall, over the market — Avhich has also been knoAvn 
as Pantheon Hall and Adams Hall — is associated Avith a 
A'ariety of musical, theatrical, and miscellaneous entertainments. 
It Avas occupied by the Handel and Haydn Society in 1817, the 
year after their incorporation, and used by them for their mu- 
sical exhibitions. In 1818 Incledon and Phillips, the cele- 
l)rated vocalists, assisted at their performances. The celebrated 
Charles MattheAvs gave his "Trip to Paris " here in 1822, after 
the close of liis engagement at the old thc^atre, as Mr. Cla])p 
says, '•' to meet the Avants of those lioLy puritans Avho Avould 
not visit the theatre to see an entertainment Avhich they patro- 
nized in a hall." ]\Ir. Buckingham, editor of the Galaxy, char- 
acterized the performance as Ioav and vulgar, for Avhich and 
other strong expressions Matthews commenced an action for 



404 LANDMARKS OF BOSTON. 

damages ; the suit never came to trial. A theatre was also 
established here by Wyzeman Marshall, and the since much- 
admired and successful actor Murdoch conducted at one time 
a gymnasium and school of elocution in Boylston Hall. Added 
to these, it was used by several religious societies prior to its 
present occupation as an armory. 

Upon this spot once stood the tavern of " Peggy " Moore. 
The vicinity was the usual halting-place for the country people 
coming into town with their garden jiroduce. Then ox-teams 
v/ere the ride, few farmers having horses, and the neighbor- 
hood of Peggy Moore's was usually a scene of plenty and of 
jdllity. Prom the shrewdness with which barter was carried 
on, the place was dubbed " shaving corner," and among the 
keen blades who trafficked on this exchange, none, it Avas said, 
excelled William Poster of the neighboring lane. Pv(,'n the 
future President may have cheapened his joint here, or turned 
the scale in his favt)r by a call at Peggy Moore's. 

The Washington Ijauk was long located at the corner of 
Washington and Peach Streets, where its imposing granite 
front remained until the recent erection of the i)resent build- 
ings. The bank was incorporated in 1825, Avith a capital of 
half a million. Por a long time iirevious to its demolition the 
Ijuilding Avas occupied as a furniture Avarehoiise. In Beach 
Street Avas established the short-lived Dramatic ]\Iuseum in 
1848, in the building noAv knoAvn as the Beach Street INIarket. 

We will enter upon Essex Street. A short Avalk brings us 
to Harrison Avenue, one of the ncAv streets risen from the 
sea-shore. The beginning of this noAV handsome street, shaded 
for a considerable distance by trees, was in the portion from 
Essex Street to Beach, Avhere it Avas arrested T)y the Avater. 
This Avas called Eainsford's Lane, until included in Pront 
Street (Plarrison Avenue) in 1825. The name Avas from 
Deacon Edward Painsford, Avho took the oath of freeman in 
1637, and Avas one of those disarmeil in the Anne Hutchinson 
controA'ersy. Ilis tract Avas on the Avesterly side of Essex 
Street extending to the sea, and separated from Garrett Bourne 
on the Avest bv his lane. 



LIBERTY TREE AND THE NEIGHBOEHOOD. 405 

Harrison Avenue, Avhicli was bnilt in 180G-07, and first 
named Front Street, extended from Beach Street to So\ith Bos- 
ton bridge. Up to 1830 the docks and flats on the west side of 
this street were not all filled vip. Its present name was given, in 
1841, in honor of General Harrison. A straight avenue, three 
fourths of a mile in length and seventy feet wide, was something 
unknown in Boston before this street was laid out. 

On the east side of Eainsford's Lane was the house in whicli 
were born Admiral Sir Isaac Coffin and his brotlier John, a 
major-general in the British army. Both were sons of aSTathan- 
iel Coffin, Collector of his Majesty's Customs, and a firm 
loyalist. Sir Isaac was educated in the Boston schools, and 
entered the royal navy in 1773, just before the lievolution. 

Jolm Coffin volunteered to accompany the royal army in 
the battle of Bunker Hill, and soon after obtained a commis- 
sion. He rose to the rank of captain, and went with the New 
York Volunteers to Georgia, in 1778. At the battle of Savan- 
nah, at Hobkirk's Hill, and at Cross Creek near Charleston, 
his conduct won the admiration of his superiors. At the battle 
of Eutaw his gallantry attracted the notice of General Greene. 
He Avas made colonel, 1797; major-general, 1803; general 
1819. 

The old mansion of the Coffins was afterwards remoA'ed 
farther up Harrison Avenue. It was of wood, three stories high, 
with gambrel roof, and may still be seen by the curious on the 
east side of the street, standing at a little distance back with 
the end towards it. 

The following anecdote of Sir Isaac is authentic. "While 
in Boston once, the admiral stopped at the Tremont House, 
and, being very gouty, was confined to his room. At King's 
Chapel prayers were offered for his recovery, and after service 
was over a gentleman jiaid his respects to the distinguished 
visitor at his room, where he found him with his leg swathed 
in bandages, and in no conciliatory mood. His footman 
having accidentally run against his gouty foot, the admiral dis- 
charged a volley of oaths at his devoted head, following them 
with his crutch. The efficacy of the prayers may be doubted. 



406 LANDMARKS OF BOSTON. 

Still another of this famous royalist family was destined to 
acquire rank and distinction in the British service. Sir Thomas 
Aston Coffin, I>art., was a son of William Coffin of Boston, and 
cousin of Admiral Sir Isaac. All three of the distinguished 
Coffins were born in Boston, and Ijred in her public schools. 
Thomas was at one period private secretary to Sir Guy Carle- 
ton, and attained the rank of commissary-general in the Brit- 
ish ami}'. He Aras a graduate of Harvard. 

The admiral ever retained an affectionate regard ftir his na- 
tive country. His family Avere descended from that tight 
little isle of Nantucket, Avhere the name of the Coffins has 
been made famous in story for their exploits in the whale 
fishery. He gave evidence of his attachment by investing a 
large sum in tlie English funds for the beneht of the Coffin 
school on the island, of wliich fund the mayor and aldermen 
of Boston were made trustees for the distril^ution of the annual 
interest among hve of the most deser\'ing boys and as many 
girls of. that school. 

Next south of the little alley that divides Eainsford's Lane 
lived Henry Bass, one of the Tea l^irty, at whose liouse Sam- 
uel Adams and ]\Iajor jNIelvill often })assed a convivial evening 
and ate a Sunday dinner. 

Prior to 1793 the neighborhood of Essex and South Streets 
Avas largely occupied liy distilleries. The oldest one is that now 
and for some time in possession of the French family, which 
ai)pears to have been improved for that purpose as early as 
1714 by Henry Hill, distiller, and by Thomas Hill after him. 
Besides this, there Avere AA-'ery's and Ilaskins's distilleries, be- 
tween Essex and Beach Streets ; their vicinity marks the prox- 
imity of the shore. 

We liaA'e spoken elseAvliere of the manufacture of rum in 
Boston. In 1794, Avhen the toAvn, contained a little more than 
18,000 inhabitants, there Avere no less than thirty distill-houses. 
Twenty-seven Avere in operation in 1792, but the disturbances 
in the French West India Islands and the excise laid by Con- 
gress had diminished the number Avorking to eighteen in the 
year first mentiom.'d. Bum Avas only fourpence, and that from 
the West Indies but sixpence, a rpiart. 



LTBEKTY TREE AND THE NEIGIIBOUHOOD. 407 

Gilbert Stuart lived and painted in 182S in a modern tlirce- 
story brick house, standing alone in Essex Street, numbered 59, 
near the opening of Edinboro. The latter is a modern thor- 
oughfare. Before removing to Essex Street, Stuart resided in 
Washington Place, Fort Hill, where he had a painting-room. 
He took up his permanent resi<lence in Boston in 180G, and died 
here July 9, 1828. His two daughters, ]\Irs. Stebbins and ISIiss 
Jane Stuart, pursued their father's profession in Boston ; the 
latter still follows her art at N'ewport, E. I. Stuart, it is said, 
did not instruct his daughters as he might have done. 

Stuart was not particularly prepossessing in appearance, and 
was very careless in dress, but a man of gi'eat genius. His eye 
was very piercing, and photographed a subject or a sitter at a 
glance. He was easily oti'ended, and would then destroy Iiis 
works of gi'eat value. 

Having exhausted the patronage of N'ewport, Stuart went 
over to London, where he began to paint in 1781. He soon 
found himself without money and without friends in the great 
capital, and for some time played the organ at a church to 
secure the means of living. In this the knowledge of music 
cultivated in America stood him in good stead. He was a 
capital performer on the flute, and it is related by Trumbull 
that he passed his last night at Newport serenading the girls. 
His passion for music led him to neglect liis art at this time, 
and some of his friends thought it necessary to advise him to 
go to work. To his musical genius he owed his bread in the 
swarming wilderness of London. 

Among the first patrons of Stuart were Lord St. Vincent, the 
Duke of Northumberland (Percy), and Colonel Barre, who, 
learning of his embarrassments, came into his room one morn- 
ing soon after he had sot up an independent easel, locked the 
door, and made friendly offers of assistance. This the painter 
- declined. They then said they would sit for their portraits, 
and insisted on paying half price in advance. This is Stuart's 
own relation. 

Stuart became a pu])il of West at twenty-four, the latter 
having lent him a small sum and invited him to his studio. 



408 LANDMARKS OF BOSTON. 

He afterwards painted a full k'ligth of liis old master. While 
with West, Stuart often indulged of a lUdrniug in a bout with 
the foils with his master's son Iiafe (IJaphael West). He was 
surprised one morning hy the old gentleman just as he had 
driven Eafe to the wall, Avitli his back to one of his father's 
best pictures. " There, you dog," says Stuart, " there I have 
you, and nothing but your background relieves you." Stuart 
painted in London at John Palmer's, York Buildings. 

Stuart, Avhile in Paris, painted Louis XVI. Put his greatest 
work was the hetid of Washington, now in the Athonii-um Gal- 
lery. This portrait he ottered to the State of ^lassachusetts for 
one thousand doUare, but it was refused. It would now lie a 
matter of difficulty to lix a price upon it. The head remained 
in Stuart's room until his widow found a purchaser for it. The 
fii"st picture of Wasliington painted by Stuart was a failure, 
and he destroyed it, but he produced at the second trial a 
canvas that never can be sur^iassed. Of the Avorks of the older 
painters there are said to be eleven of Smibert's and eighteen 
of Blackburn's now in Boston. 

The first glass-works in Boston were located in what is now 
Edinboro Street; the company was established in 1787. Tlio 
Legislature granted an exclusive right to the company to manu- 
facture for hfteen years, and exemption from all taxes for five 
years ; the workmen were relieved from military duty. The 
company first erected a brick Ijuilding, conical in form, but this 
proving too small, it was taken down and replaced by a wl oden 
one a hnndred* feet long by sixty in breadth. After many em- 
barrassments the company began the manufacture of window- 
glass in November, 1793. Samuel Gore was one of the 
originators of the enterprise, but the company failed to make 
the manufxcture remunerative. In 1797 the works were con- 
trolled by Charles F. Kupfor, who continued to make window- 
glass. They were blown down in the great gale of 1815, and 
siabserpiently taking fire, were consumed. 

The manuf icture of glass in IVIassachusetts was begun some 
time before the Eevolution in a part of Braintree called Ger- 
mantown. Nothing but bottles, however, were produced here, 



LIBERTY TREE AND THE NEIGHBORHOOD. 409 

and the worlcrt failed before the commencement of the war, 
Tlie liouse was burnt down and never rebuilt. 

Opposite Oliver Place are two magnificent specimens of the 
American elm, standing in the pavement before two old-time 
brick houses. They are as large as those of the Tremont Street 
mall, and are thrifty and majestic. 

Time was when the trees were everywhere ; now they are 
indeed rare, and the places that once knew them "now knovv^ 
them no more." Formerly tliere were few, if any, situations in 
the town in which trees Avere not seen, but they are now fast 
following the old Bostonians who planted them or dwelt beneath 
their gi'ateful shade. Fifty were removed at one time from 
Charles Street when the roadway was widened ; these were 
replanted on the Common. There were two noble elms at the 
corner of Congress and AVater Streets forty years ago, scarcely 
exceeded in size by those of the malls. Bowdoin Square, the 
Coolidge, Bulfinch, and Parkman estates, were adorned Avith 
shade and fruit trees. Occasionally, during our pilgrimage, we 
have discovered some solitary tree in an unexpected place, but 
it only stands because its time has not yet come. 

" But rising from the dust of busy streets, 

These forest children gladden many hearts ; 
As some old friend their welcome presence greets 

The toil-worn soul, and fresher life imparts. 
Their shade is doubly grateful where it lies 

Above the glare which stifling walls throw back ; 
Through quivering leaves we see the soft blue skies. 

Then hajipier tread the dull, unvaried track." 

We have remarked that the old peninsula was but thinly 
Avooded, and the settlers soon began to plant trees, supplying 
themselves Avith Avood from the islands for a time. We find by 
the records that the toAvn took order as early as 1655 "to i)re- 
vent the trees planted on the Neck from being spoiled." In 
March, 1G95, it a])pears that seA'eral attempts had been made 
by Ca})tain Samuel ScAvall " to plant trees at the south end of 
the town for the shading of Wheeler's Point," and all others 
Avere prohibited from meddling Avith them. The trees on the 
Common and Liberty Tree Avera planted early. There Avas an 
18 



410 LANDMARKS OF BOSTON. 

English elm on tlie Storer estate, Sudbviry Street, "vvliich had 
few horizontal liniljs, but which attained a very great height, 
the trunk being larger than those of Paddock's Mall. We have 
pointed to its fellow on West Street. Three English elms, 
thought to have been planted Ijy some of the OKver family 
early in the last century, stood on the edge of High Street, in 
what was Quincy Place, on the building of which they were 
levelled. They were of the size of those in Paddock's Mall. 
A fourth of the same species stood in solitary grandeur at the 
upper pai-t of the lot on Port Hill, for years denominated as 
Phillips's Pasture, which was the finest specimen of the English 
elm in the town. Having " ample room and verge enough," it 
extended its branches horizontally in every direction. Tliis 
must have corresjjonded nearly in age with those mentioned in 
High Street. 

In Essex Street was the cooper-shop of Samuel Peck, one 
of the Tea Party, whose two apprentices, Henry Purkett and 
Edward P)olbier, followed him to the scene of action at Cxrifiin's 
Wharf. 

Tlic A'isitor to this rpiarter will find, at the corner of Essex 
and ( '(ihnnl;)ia Streets, an oltl wooden house, to which is ascribed 
the honor of being the resilience for a time of the ubi<}uitous 
Earl Percy. It stands at a little distance back from Essex 
Street, on which it fronts. Ihiilt of wood, with gambrel 
roof, it did not differ materially from the neighboring struc- 
tures. 

According to Mr. Sabine, this was the residence of ]\rrs. 
Sheatfe, whose son, Poger Hale, became the j^i'^tcffe of Percy, 
Avho took a great liking to him while lodging Avith his mother 
in this house. Under the pn)tection of the Earl the young 
r>ostonian advanced to the rank of lieutenant-general in the 
Pritisli army, and became a baronet. His principal military 
s 'rvice seems to have been in ( -anada, though it was his wish 
not to have been employed against his native country. He 
took command at Queenstown after the fall of General Brock, 
and defended Eittle York (Toronto) from the attack of our 
forces under General I)(.'arborn. He was also in the attack on 



LIBERTY TREE AND THE NEIGHBORHOOD. 411 

Copenhagen under Xelson in 1801, and saw serviec in Holland. 
Sir lioger made several visits to his native town, and is repre- 
sented as a man of generous impulses, high-minded, and well 
worthy the interest of his noble friend and patron. The build- 
ing is of course much altered in its exterior aspect. 

The lower part of Essex Street brings us to the limit of the 
South Cove improvement in this direction,, by which the an- 
cient sea-border was obliterated, and a territory nearly twice as 
large as the Common added to the area of Boston. Charles 
Ewer has been, named as the j)rojector of this enterprise, which 
reclaimed from tide-water that part of the South Cove from 
Essex Street to South Boston Bridge, and lying east of Harrison 
Avenue. Work was begun in 1833, a bonus of $ 75,000 being 
paid to the Boston and Worcester liailroad Company to locate 
its depot within the cove forever. The railway purchased 
138,000 feet of land for its purposes, and 48,000 were sold for 
the City, now the United States, Hotel. Another parcel of land 
Avas sold to the Seekonk Branch Bailroad Company. By 1857- 
the agent had acquired seventy-three acres of land and flats ; 
seventy-seven acres in all were proposed to be reclaimed. 

The locomotives, cars, rails, etc. first used on the Worcester 
railroad were all of English make. The passenger carriages 
were shaped like an old-fashioned stage-coach, contained a dozen 
persons, and i*an on single trucks. They bore little comparison, 
either in size, comfort, or adornment, to the luxurious vehicles 
now used on the same road. The freight cars, or vans, had 
frames, over which was drawn a canvas covering similar to those 
in use on tlie army baggage-wagon, so that when seen at a little 
distance a freight train did not look unlike a number of hay- 
stacks in motion across the fields. The first locomotive used 
on this road was brought over from England on the deck of a 
ship, and was with great difficulty landed and moved across the 
city from Long Wharf. It was called the Meteor. 

We Avill now transfer our readers to the vicinity of Hollis 
Street. Opposite the entrance to that avenue on Tremont 
Street is a collection of old wooden buildings, Avhose antiquity 
is vouched for by their extreme dilapidation. Patches of the 



412 LANDMARKS OF EOSTON. 

roof seem returning to their native earth, and the crazy struc- 
tures appear to have outlived their (hiy and gmieration. 

Here was the dwelUng and carpenter-shop of Colonel John 
Crane, who came so near meeting liis death in the hold of the 
tea-ship. The shop is still used hy mechanics of the same 
craft. Crane, after the construction of the fortifications on the 
Ni'ck, commanded that post, being then major of a regiment of 
artillery, of which the Eoston company formed the nucleus. 
He became an expert marksman, and was considered the most 
skilful in the regiment. It is related tliat one day, as he 
sighted a gun bearing upon Boston, he intended to hit the 
liouse of Dr. Byles, a tory neighbor of his, who lived next 
(h)or. The sh(_)t, howciver, passed over the doctor's house, and 
tore away his own ridgepole. 

Crane was woumled in Xew York in 1776 ; he was in Sulli- 
van's ex})edition to Kliode Island in 1778, antl succeeded Knox 
in the command of tlie ^lassachusetts artillery. His services 
■ Avere highly valueil by the commander-in-chief, who retained 
liim near his heaihpuirters. Colonel Crane was a Bostonian by 
birth. 

Mather Byles lived in an old two-story wooden house, with 
gamlirel roof, situatiMl just at the commencement of the bend 
or turn of Tremont Street ; so that when that street was ex- 
tended, it cut olf a part of the southeast side of the house. 
"WTuit is now calh'd Connnon Street is a part of old jN'assau 
Street, wdiich commenced at Boylston and ended at Orange, 
now Washington Street. Tremont Street was openetl through 
to Itoxbury line in 1832. At one time that part from Boylston 
to Conmion was called Holyoke Street. 

Rev. jMather Byles, the first pastor of Hollis Street Church, 
came on his mother's side from the stock of those old Puritan 
divines, John Cotton and Ilichard Mather. He was by Ijirth a 
Bostonian, having first seen the light in 1706, and died, an 
octogenarian, in his native town in 1 788. He Avas evidently 
popular with his parish, as he continued his ministi'ations for 
more than forty years, until his tory proclivities caused a sepa- 
ration from his fiock. After tlie name of tory came to have a 



LIBERTY TREE AND TPIE NEIGHBORHOOD. 413 

peculiar significance, Matlier Byles's associations seem to have 
l)een almost altogether with that side. He was a warm friend 
of Hutchinson and other of the crown officers, but remained in 
lioston after the adherents of the royal cause had generally left 
the town. 

" In 1777 he was denounced in town-meetmg, and, havmg been by 
a subsei|uent trial pronounced guilty of attachment to the Royul 
cause, was sentenced to conlhiemeut, and to be sent with his family 
to England. This doom of banishment was never enforced, and he 
was permitted to remain in Boston. He died in 1788, aged eighty- 
two years. He was a scholar, and Pope, Lansdowne, and Watts were 
his correspondents." * 

Many anecdotes are recorded of this witty divine. On one 
occasion, when a sentinel was placed before his door, he per- 
suaded him to go an errand for him, and gravely mounted 
guard over his own house, with a musket on his shoulder, to 
the amusement of tlie passers-by. Dr. Byles paid his addresses 
oinsuccessfully to a lady who afterwards married a Mr. Quincy. 
" So, madam," said the Doctor on meeting her, " you prefer a 
Quincy to Byle^, it seems." The reply was, " Yes ; for if there 
had been anything worse than 1)iles, God wovdd have afflicted 
Job with them." His two daughters, Avhose peculiarities were 
scarcely less marked than those of their father, continued to 
reside in the old homestead. They remained violent tories 
until their death, though they were very po(U' and somewhat 
dependent upon the benevolence of Trinity Church parish. 

The following anecdotes of Eev. INIather Byles illustrate his 
peculiar propensity. Just before the Eevolution, Isaiah Thomas, 
author of the History of Printing, paid a visit to the Rev. Dr. B., 
and was taken by him to an upper window, or observatory as the 
Doctor called it, from which there was a fine prospect. " Xow," 
said Dr. Byles to his companion, " you can ohserve-a-tory." At 
another time, when Dr. Byles was l)owed with the infirmities 
of years, Dr. Harris, of Dorchester, called upon him, and found 
him sitting in an arm-chair. " Doctor," said the aged punster, 
" you will excuse my rising ; I am not one of the rising gener- 

* Sabine's Loyalists. 



414 LANDMARKS OF BOSTON. 

ation." In his last illness lie was visited by Eev. "William 
Montagne, rector of Christ Chnrch, and Eev. Dr. Parker, 
rector of Trinity. Dr. Parker apjiroached the sick man's bed- 
side, and asked him how he felt. " I feel," said the inveterate 
joker, "that I am going where there are no bishops." 

The two following verses, addressed to Dr. Byles, are from a 
poetical description of tlie Poston clergy, which appeared about 
1774. It contained thirty-seven stanzas, and was the rage of 
tlic town. Green, Trumlndl, Dr. Church, and Dexter of Ded- 
liam were all cliarged with the authorship. 

"There 's inmning Byles, provokes our smiles, 
A man of stately parts ; 
Who visits folks to crack his jokes, 
That never mend their hearts. 

" With strutting gait and wig so great, 
He walks along the streets, 
And throws out wit, or what 's like it, 
To every one he meets." 

The original name of Hollis Street was Harvard. Street 
and church were named for Thomas Hollis, an eminent Lon- 
don merchant, and benefactor of Harvard College. IKillis 
Street appears on a map of 1775, continued in a straight line 
to Cambridge (Back) Pay. The groAvtli of this part of Boston 
had, by 1730, called for a place of worship nearer than Sum- 
mer Street. Governor Pelcher, who was then a resident in 
tlie vicinity, gave the land for a site, and a small wooden 
meeting-house, thirty by forty feet, was erected in 1732. The 
first minister was Pev. Mather Pyles. A bell weighing 800 
pounds was given l)y a nephew of tlie Thomas Hollis for whom 
the church was named, and Avas placed in the steeple on its 
arrival. Tliis-bell began the jiiyful peal at one o'clock on the 
mnrniug of tlie lOtli of ^Nlay, 1700, as nearest to Liberty Tree, 
and was answered by Christ Church from the other extremity 
of the town, announcing the Stamj) Act Pepeal. The steeples 
Averc liuug with flags, and Liberty Tree decorated with banners. 

Tlu! cliurch was destroyed by the great fire of 1787, but the 
society, nothing daunted, reared another wooden edifice in the 



LIBERTY t;;ee axd the neigiiborhood. 



415 




nOLLIS STREET CHURCH. 



yoar fullowin^, of wliidi Ave prosont an engravin!:^. It was 
creetod upon the same spot as the former church, hut had. un- 
like it;, two towers instead of a steeple. Charles Eulfnich Avas 
tlie architect, and Josiah Wheeler the huilder. This huilding 
was removed in 1810, to give 
place to the present edifice, 
and was floated on a raft down 
the harl)or to East Ikaintree, 
Avhere Eev. Jonas Perkins 
]>reached in it forty-seven 
years. Though recently re- 
arranged, it remains substan- 
tially the same as when it 
Avas one of the cliief orna- 
ments of the toAvn of Boston. 

The stee})le of Hollis Street readies an altitude of nearly 
tAvo hundred feet, and is one of the most prominent objects 
seen from the harbor. This is the church of West, Holley, 
Pierpont, and Starr King. Singularly enough, the church has 
lost by death, Avhile in the service of the church, but a single 
one of its pastors (Dr. Samuel West) since its organization. 
Rev. John Pierpont, one of our native poets, Avas firfit a laAvyer, 
and then a merchant. In the late civil Avar, though past his 
" threescore and ten," he joined a Massachusetts regiment as 
chaplain. He died at Medford, in 18GG, Avhile holding a clerk- 
ship in the Treasury Department at Washington. Thomas Starr 
King Avas but tAventy-four Avhen he assumed the pastorate of 
HoUis Street, and after tAveh^e years of service removed to San 
Francisco, Avhere he bore a prominent part in arraying Cali- 
fornia in active sympathy Avith the North during the civil Avar. 
A number of Avorks have emanated from the pen of this gifted 
and lamented author and divine, of Avdiich the White Hills is 
perhaps the best knoAvn, and most enjoyalde. 

It is a singular fact that in only tAVo instances the (Han- 
over Street ]\Iethodist and Hollis Street) haA^e three churclies 
been erected on the same spot in Boston. The Ncav North, 
Old South, Brattle Scjuare, Bromtield Street, Bulfinch Street, 



416 LANDMAUKS OF BOSTOX. 

AVcst, Ixildwiu Place, I'liillips, Maverick, ami Trinity cluirclies, 
Baptist Ijctliel, and King's Cliapcl, are the second edifices on 
the same site. 

Zachariah ^Hiitman, in his History of tlie Ancient and Hon- 
orable Ai'tillery, says, — ■ 

" The erection of pews on the ground-floor of meeting-houses was 
a New England invention. Some uf the first mceting-hmises in 
Boston that had pews had no hroad or other aisle, Imt were entered 
from without by a door, the owner keeping the key." 

The tablets in Hollis Street Church bearing the Ten Com- 
mandments were the gift of Benjamin Bvissey. 

The terrible lire of 1787 laid waste the whole of the region 
around Hollis Street. It commenced in William Patten's malt- 
liouse in Beach Street, extending with great rapidity in a 
southerly direction. The s[»ire of Hollis Street C'liurcli soon 
took hre from the burning flakes carried through the air, and 
the church Avas burnt to the ground. Both sides of Washing- 
ton Street, from Eliot to ComuKin on the west, and from Beach 
to a point ojiposite Cijmmon Street on the east, were laid in 
ruins. This lire cost the town a hundred houses, of Avhicli 
sixty were dwellings. Suliscriptions were set on foot for the 
sufferer's, and the jMartpiis Lafayette, with characteristic gener- 
osity, gave £ .350 sterling towards the relief of the sull'erers. 

The Britisli, it is said, on their retreat from the works on the 
ISTeck left a rear-guard at Hollis Street, who had orders, if the 
Americans broke through the tacit convention lietween AVasli- 
ington and Howe, to fire a train laid to Hollis Street Church, 
which had served them as a Imri'ack. This guard, after remain- 
ing a short time at their post, took to their heels, and scam})ered 
off under the impression that the Yankees were close upon 
them. 

We conclude our cbai>tcr Avith a Adsit to another poet, 
(diaries S[iragui', now in his eighty-first year, Avho resides, in 
the evening of his life, at No. 0.36, on the cast side of "\\'ash- 
ington Street, in a substantial old-fashioned house. 

It has been statcil tliat tlie oration Avhich ]\[r. Spnigue de- 
livered July 4tli, 1825, Ijefore the city autliorities Avas afterAvards 



LIDEKTY TREE AND THE NEIGHBORHOOD. 417 

effectively used on a similar occasion as an ori.L,'inal production 
by a Western Cicero, who might have worn his laurels undis- 
covered had he not in an unguarded moment furnished a copy 
for the press. 

Mr. Sprague went to the Franklin School when Lemuel 
Shaw, the late Cliief Justice, was usher there. He became con- 
nected with the State Bank in 1820, and subsequently cashier 
of the Globe when that bank was organized. His first poetical 
essay, by which his name came before the public, was a prize 
prologue, delivered at the opening of the Park Theatre, l^ew 
York, of which the following is an extract : — 

" The Stage ! ■where Fancy sits, creative queen, 
And waves her sceptre o'er life's mimic scene ; 
Wliere young-eyed Wonder comes to feast his sight, 
And quaff instruction wlale he drinks delight. 
Tlie Stage ! tliat tlireads eacli hibyrintli of the soul, 
Wakes laughter's peal, and Inds the tear-drop roll ; 
Tliat slioots at Folly, mocks proud Fashion's slave. 
Uncloaks the hypocrite, and brands the knave." 



18 ■ 



-118 LANDMARKS OF BOSTON. 



CHAPTEK XV. 

THE KECK AND THE FORTIFICATIONS. 

The. Neck described. —Measures to protect the Road. — Paving the Neck. 

— Henry T. Tuckerman. — Old Houses vs. Modern. — Massachusetts Mint. 

— The Gallows. — Anecdote of Warren. — Executions. — Early Fortifica- 
tions. — The British Works and Armament. — American Works. — George 
Tavern. — Washington's Staff. — His Personal Traits. — Washington 
House. — Washington Hotel. — Anecdotes of George Tavern. — Scarcity 
of Powder. — Continental Flags. — Entry of Wasliiugton's Army. — 
Entry of Rochambeau's Army. — Paul Jones. 

, J"E have conducted the reader through all of Colonial 
Boston embraced within the peninsula, and are now to 
survey the barrier which the colonists raised against the power 
of the mighty British Empire. The more we examine the 
resources and state of preparation of the people, the more we 
are astonislied at the hardihood with which a mere collection 
of the yeomanry of the country, without any pretension to the 
name of an army, sat down before the gates of the town of 
Boston, and compelled the haughty Britons to retire from her 
profaned temples and ruined hearthstones. 

A strip of territory lying along the great avenue to the main- 
land still retains the appellation of " The Keck." Long may 
the only battle-ground within our ancient limits preserve the 
name by which it was knoAvn to AVinthrop and to Washington. 
All Boston proper was once styled " The jSI^eck," in distinction 
from Noddle's Island, Brookline, and other territory included 
within the jurisdiction. The peninsula outgrowing her de- 
pendencies, the name attached itself to the narroAV isthmus 
connecting with the mainland. 

The K^eck may be said to have begun at Beach Street, where 
was its greatest breadth, diminishing to its narrowest point at 
iJover Street, increasing gradually in width to the neighborhood 



THE NECK AND THE FORTIFICATIOXS. 419 

of Dedham Street, thence expanding in greater proportion to 
tlie line at the present car stables nearly opposite Metropolitan 
Place. The Neck, according to its designation in Revolution- 
ary times, Avas that part lying south of Dover Street. 

Captain Nathaniel Uring, in his account of his visit to Bos- 
ton in 1710, printed in London in 172G, says : — 

" The Neck of Land betwixt the city and country is about forty 
yards broad, and so low that the spi'ing tides sometimes wash the 
road, whiidi might, with little charge, be made so strong as not to be 
forced, there being no way of comhig at it by land but over that 
Neck." 

Whether what constituted old Boston was at one time an 
island, or was liecoming one by the wasting forces of the ele- 
ments, is an interesting <piestion for geologists. We know that 
for nearly a hundred and fifty years scarcely any change had 
taken place in the appearance of the Neck ; but the action of 
the town authorities seems to indicate a fear that its existence 
w^as seriously threatened. 

Within the recollection of persons noAV living the water has 
been known to stand up to the knees of horses in the season 
of full tides at some places in the road, on the Neck. The 
narrowest part was naturally the most exposed, as it was the 
most eligible also for fortifying. At some points along the 
beach there was a good depth of water, and (iibben's shipyard 
was located on the easterly side a short distance north of Dover 
Street as early as 1722, and as late as 1777. Other portions, 
on both sides of the Neck, were bordered by marshes, more 
or less extensive, covered at high tides. 

Wharves were built at intervals along the eastern shore, 
from Beach to Dover Street. In front of these wdiarves dwell- 
ings and stores Avere erected, facing wdiat is now Washington 
Street. Josiali Knapp's dwelling, recently removed from the 
corner of Kneeland Street, was one of these, his wharf being 
so near the street that the passersdjy complained that the bow- 
sprits of his vessels unlading there obstructed the liighway. 

In the spring the road upon the Neck was almost impassable, 
especially before the centre was paved, which was from neces- 



420 LANDMARKS 01- BOSTON. 

sity (lone at last, but with sueli large stones that the pavement 
was always avoided by vehicles as long as the old road was 
practicable. 

Measnres began to be very early considered to protect the 
Keck from the violence of the sea. In 1708 the town granted 
a number of individuals all the tract included within Castle and 
a point a little north of DoA'er Street, conditioned upon the 
completion of a highway and erection of certain barriers to 
"secure and keep off the sea." A second grant was made 
nearly eighty years later for a like purpose, extending from the 
limits of the first grant to a point a little beyond the former 
estate of John D. Williams, Esq., where the Cathedral now 
stands. From this beginning dates the reclamation of that 
extensive area now covered in every direction with superb 
public edifices or })rivate mansions. 

A dike was built on the exposed eastAvard side, crossing the 
marslies to the firm ground on the IJoxbury shore, before the 
IJevolution, Avhich traversed hutli the British and American 
Avorks on the Xeck. Tliis folloAved in general direction the 
extension of Harrison Avenue. A sea-A\^all Avas built aljout 
the same time on the Avcst side, for some distance south from 
the bridge at Dover Street, nearly as far as Waltham Street. 
In a Avord, the general appearance of tlie Xeck sixty years ago, 
to a spectator placed at the Old Fortifications, Avas similar to 
the turn])ikes crossing the Lynn marshes to-day, and Avas deso- 
late and forbidding in the extreme, especially to a nocturnal 
traA'eller. 

From the old fortifications, nortlnvardly, the highway Avas 
called Orange Street as early as 1 708. Washington Street Avas 
named after the memorable visit of the General in 1789, and at 
first extended only from near DoA'er Street to Eoxbury line ; 
the name Avas not apjilied to the Avhole extent of the present 
thoroughfare until 1824-, Avhen Coruhill, Marll)orough, Xcav- 
bury, and ( )range Ix^came one in name as Avell as in fiict. 

FeAV of the tliousands AAdio daily traverse the Neck, Avith its 
street-cars, omnibuses, and priA'ate e(|uipages folloAving cacli 
utlier in rapid succession, can realize tliat travellers Avere once 



THE NECK AND THE FORTIFICATIONS. 421 

ill great danger of losing tlieir "way along tlic narrow natural 
causeway and its adjacent marshes. Yet so fretj^uent had such 
accidents become that not only the town but the General Coiu't 
took action in 1723 to have the dangerous road fenced in. 

The Xeck marshes were a favorite resort for birds, and were 
much frequented by sportsmen. It is related that Sir Charles 
and Lady Frankland one clay narrowly escaped being shot as 
they were passing over the highway. In 1785 the town of 
Eoxbury was obliged to place sentinels here to prevent the 
desecration of the Sabbath. The meadows continued in much 
later times to be a resort for this purpose. 

The Neck was paved quite early in the last century, accord- 
ing to the fashion we have described elsewhere. In 1757 the 
General Court authorized a lottery to raise funds for paving and 
repairing the highway. The forty-two rods of Orange Street, 
mentioned as having been ordered paved in 1715, were probably 
the portion nearest the town, but it was paved in 1775 as far 
as the British works. The whole Neck was paved under the 
mayoralty of Josiah Quincy. 

In colonial times the fortification which was raised a little 
south of Dover Street was the limit of the town, — all beyond 
was nearly in its primitive condition. In 1794 there were but 
eighteen buildings between Dover Street and the line. In 
1800 there were not more than one or two houses from the site 
of the new Catholic Cathedral to Eoxbury. The few buildings 
standing between the American and British lines were burnt 
during the siege, and only two barns and three small houses 
were then left on Avhat was properly termed the Neck. 

A few doors north of Dover Street, on the easterly side of 
what was then old Orange Street, was the home of the favorite 
author and poet, Henry T. Tuckerman. The house was vstruck 
during the siege by a shot from the American lines. Mr. Tuck- 
erman has contributed largely to our literature both in verse 
and prose, as an essayist, critic, biographer, and accomplished 
traveller. He was also well known through his articles in our 
leading magazines. As a poet, his " Eome " gives a good sam- 
ple of his style. 



422 



LAXDMAUKS OF BOSTOX. 



" A terrace lifts alxjve the People's Square 
Its colonnade ; 
About it lies the warm and crystal air, 
And fir-trees' shade." 

This house, hke most of those on oiir main avenue in the 
beginning of the century, stood end to the street, which gave 
a singular impression to a stranger, and. recalls the following 
quaint description of Alljany by old Jedediah Morse, Avhich 
has given rise to a witticism on the peculiarity of the iidiabi- 
tants of that town : — 

" This city and suburlis, by enumeration in 1797, contained 1,263 
buildings, of which 863 were dwelhng-houses, and 6,021 inhabitants. 
]\Iauy of them are in the Gothic style, with the gable end to the 
street, whicli custom the first settlers brought from Holland ; the 
new houses are built in the modern style." 

The only purpose of utility for wlncli tlie Xeck was formerly 
used, except perhaps the grazing afforded liy the marshes along 
the causeway, was for brick-making. There were brickyards 
north of Dover Street, as well as south, before the Eevolution. 
These gaA'e employment to many poor people during the con- 
tinuance of the Port Act. In tins connection we may mention 
the total absence of building-stone of any kind on the site of 
original Boston. The principal elevations have been either 
wdiolly or partially removed Avithout encountering a ledge of 
any description. 

In October, 178G, the State of jMassacliusetts, being greatly 
in want of a specie currency, passed an act to establish a mint 

for tlie coinage 
of copper, silver, 
and gold. This 
was one of the 
powers of sover- 
eignty whicli tlie 
States continued 
to exercise under 
the old "Arti- 

MASSACnUSETTS CENT OF 1787. ^|^.g ^,f. Q^j^f^.,1, 

oration." dnshua AVethcrle was appointed ma,ster of the mint 




THE NECK AND THE FORTIFICATIONS. 423 

in IMay, 1787, and authorized to erect the necessary works and 
machinery. $70,000 in cents and half-cents were ordered to 
be struck as soon as practicable. 

Wetherle established his works on the Xeck, in the rear of 
what is now EoUins Street, and at Dedham, the copper being 
first carted to Dedham to be rolled, and then brought back to 
Eoston to be coined. In July, 1787, the national government 
established the devices of its copper coin. 

Early in 1788 the copper coin ordered by the vState began to 
be issued, but only a few thousand dollars of the large amount 
ordered were put in circulation before the work was suspended 
by the State in consequence of the adoption of the Federal 
Constitution, which reserved the right to coin money to the 
general government. The emblems on the Massachusetts cent 
and half-cent were the same. One side bore the American 
eagle with a bundle of arrows in the right talon and an olive- 
branch in the left, with a shield on the breast, on which is the 
word " cent " ; the word " Massachusetts " encircling the l:)or- 
der. The reverse represents a full-length Indian grasi:)ing his 
bow and arrow, but, as Mr. Felt remarks, considerably improved 
in appearance since he appeared on the colony seal. A star 
appears near the head, as in the State seal, emblematic of one 
of the United States, and the word " Commonwealth " com- 
pletes the device. 

The first object Avhich arrested the attention of the traveller 
as he journeyed towards Old Boston was the gallows, standing 
as a monument of civilization at the gates. It was at lirst 
situated near the old fortilieation on the eastei'ly side of the 
Neck, but stood at a later period not far from the site of the St. 
James Hotel. 

A characteristic anecdote is related of Dr. Warren in connec- 
tion with the gallows. It is said that as he was one day passing 
the spot he met some British officers, one of whom exclaimed, 
"Go on, Warren, you Avill soon come to the gallows." Warren 
immediately turned back and demanded to know which of them 
had thus accosted hiui, but neither of the warriors had the 
courage to avow it. 



'42-i LANDMARKS OF BOSTOX. 

Here Avcre hanged tlie pirates Jolm "Williams, Francis Fred- 
crick, John P. Itog, and Xiles Peterson, in 1819 ; and in the 
following year ]\Iichael Powers was also executed for the mur- 
der of Timothy Kennedy. Perez ]\Iorton was then district- 
attorney. l^J^vers was defended hy Daniel Webster, but was 
convicted, on an unlu'oken chain of circumstantial evidence, 
of having nnu'dered and then buried his victim in a cellar. 

The defences of P)oston very early engaged the attention of 
the settlers. Fort Hill Avas fortified as early as 1G34, and steps 
Avere taken to build a work on Castle Island in the same year. 
It is reasonable to conclude that the protection of the land side 
received even earlier attention, the danger being more imminent. 
The Indians in the neighborhood were, as a general thing, 
friendly, but were not trusted, and a guard of an officer and six 
men was placed on the Xeck, by order of the court, in April, 
1631. We cannot, however, fix the date Avith precision, though 
a barrier Avas certainly erected prior to 1040. The gates of the 
old fortification Avere constantly guarded, and Avere shut liy a 
certain hour in the CA^ening, after Avliich none were alloAved to 
pass in or out. 

The primitiA^e barrier had disappeared before ITIO, the 
broken poAver of the Indians leaving nothing to apin-ehend 
from that quarter. In this year the toAvn A'oted that a lino of 
defence be forthwith made across the Xeck, betAveen Boston 
anil Itoxbury. A suitable number of great guns Avere ordered 
to be mounted, and a gate erected across the road. The foun- 
dation of this Avork Avas of stone and brick, Avith parapet of 
earth ; part of Avhat Avas considered to be the remains of the 
old fort Avas uncovered in 18G0, Avhen excaA^ations Avere making 
in the street, just south of Williams IMarket. 

In September, 1774, Avhen matters Avere approaching a crisis 
betAveen the people and the King's troops, Clage began to fortify 
the Neck. The remains of the old Avorks Avere strengthened, 
guns mounted, and eartliAvorks thrown up some distance in 
advance of these on both sides of the highway. The armament 
at first consisted of two tAventy-four and eight nine pounders. 
The first troops stationed by Gage in this (piarter Avere the 



THE NECK AND THE FOliTlFICATIOX.S. 425 

59th i-pgimi'iit, wliifli amved from Salem Septcmher 2, and 
encamped on the Neck. On the ith four i)ieces of lield artil- 
lery were taken from the Common and placed in front of the 
troops, fatigue parties from which went to work upon the in- 
ti-enchments. By midwinter the ordinary garrison was one 
hundred and fifty men, with a field-officer in command, Tliis 
force was increased before the battle of Lexington to three 
hundred and forty men. A deep fosse, into which the tide 
flowed at high water, was dug in front of the Dover Street fort, 
converting Boston for the time into two islands. 

In July, 1775, when the siege had fairly begun, tlie work 
nearest the town mounted eiglit twenty-four, six twelve, two 
nine, and seven six pounder guns, and was called during the 
siege " The Green Store Battery," from the warehouse of 
Deacon Brown, painted that color, which stood on the site of 
the AVilliams JMarket. The advanced work, which was much 
the stronger, mounted eight twenty-four, four twelve, one 
nine, and seven six pounders, with six eight-inch howitzers, 
and a mortar battery. The road passed dii-ectly through the 
centre of both lines, the first being closed by a gate and draw- 
bridge. The redan was flanked by a bastion on each side of 
the highway, from Avhich the lines were continued across the 
intervening marshes to the sea. Floating batteries, abattis, 
trous-de-huj'), and other appliances known to military science, 
were not wanting. Two guard-honses were on either side of 
the road immediately in the rear of the advanced post, while a 
third and smaller work, lying between the others on the eastern 
sea-margin, bore on Dorchester IS^eck, and took the left curtain 
and bastion of the main work in reverse. Above all waved the 
standard of England. 

BRITISH LINES ON BOSTON NECK IN 1775. 

The position of the main British work, vestiges of which 
were distinctly visible as late as 1822,. particularly on the west 




426 LANDMARKS OF BOSTON, 

side of tlie Keck, Avas between Dedliam and Canton Streets. 
jMounds, ramparts, and Avide ditches yet attested the strength 
of the defences Avhich Washington deemed too formidable to 
bo carried by assault. Eemains of planks and poles used to 
support the embankment of what may have been one of the 
bastions were discovered many years since in digging the cellar 
of Edward I ). Peters's honse on the north corner of Canton and 
Washington Streets. ]\Ir. John Griggs, Avhose recollections of 
the Neck go back more than half a century, remembers traces 
of the intrencliments on the east side, Avhere avo have located 
them. Tlie A'isitor to the spot Avill not fail to observe that 
from this point the first unobstructed AdeAV is obtained in front 
as far as Washington Market. 

]5y Washington's order Colonel Oridley rendered these Avorks 
useless as soon as the Continental army moA'ed to Xcav York, 
so that if the enemy, Avhose fleet AA^as still on the coast, sh(juld 
suddenly repossess themselves of Boston, they might not find 
the old defences aA'ailal)le. From this stronghold Cage, Howe, 
Clinton, and Burgoyne grimly marked the rising intrenchments 
of tlie Americans three quarters of a mile away, or listened to 
the roll of the drums that greeted the approach of their chief- 
tain as he made his daily tour of the hostile lines. Cage at 
one tame appears to ha\'e intrusted tlie defence of his lines on 
the Xeck to Lord Percy. 

Colunel Trumbull, aftenvards one of Washington's military 
family, but then belonging to a Connecticut regiment, first 
brought himself to the notice of the general by a daring ex- 
l)loit. Learning that a plan of the enemy's Avorks AA^as greatly 
desired at headcpiarters, he crept near enough to them to make 
a drawing, Avith Avhich he returned to camp. For this act he 
Avas aiipointed aide-de-camp. A British soldier of artillery soon 
after came into the American lines Avith a plan of the hostile 
forts. From the time of the iiiAa^stment until the siege Avas 
raised, rigid martial law prevailed in ]>oston, Avith sentinels 
posted at all iin])ortant ])oints, patrols traversing the streets, 
and a town major at the head of pulice afiairs. 

Here Cage remained ignobly shut up, attempting nothing 



THE NECK AND THE FORTIFICATIONS. 427 

after the battle of Bunker Hill l)ut a few maravidiuj^ excursions 

along the coast in search of fresh provisions. His extremities 

are ludicrously set forth by that inimitable Iievolutionary poet, 

Philip Freneau. The scene is a midnight consultation at the 

general's quarters. 

" Tlie clock strikes two ! — Gage smote npon his breast, 
And cry'd, — ' What fate determines must be best — 
But now attend — a counsel I impart 
Tliat long has laid the heaviest at my heart — 
Three weeks — ye gods ! nay, three long years it seems — 
Since roast-hcef I have touch'd, except in dreams. 
In sleep, choice dishes to my view repair ; 
Waking, I gape and champ the emjity air. — 
Say, is it just that I, who rule these bands, 
Should live on husks, like rakes in foreign lands ? " 

The space between the opposing works became a battle- 
ground for the skirmishing parties of the two armies, each of 
which had pickets in their front, covered by slight intrench- 
ments. A short distance in advance of the British works on the 
Avest side of the highway were the house and barns of a Mr. 
Brown, which served the British admirably as a post from 
which to annoy our men. This was the house at which Bur- 
goyne proposed to meet Charles Lee, to discuss the differences 
between the colonies and the mother country. Congress, how- 
ever, put a veto on a proceeding neither military nor diplo- 
matic. On the 8th of July (1775) Majors Tupper and Crane 
surprised the guard and destroyed the house and out-buildings. 
The bare chimneys remained standing, and to some extent af- 
forded a protection to the enemy. 

After the battle of Lexington the Americans at first merely 
guarded the passage of the Neck with a small force under 
Colonel Robinson, or until the Provincial Congress took meas- 
ures to organize an army, and regular military operations were 
undertaken. 

No intrenchments appear to have been thrown up on the 
Neck by the Continental forces until after the battle of Bun- 
ker Hill, when the famous Poxbury lines were laid out by 
Colonel Richard Gridley, the veteran of Louisburg, Quebec, and 
Bunker Hill, now chief-engineer of the army. 



428 LANDMARKS OF BOSTON. 

From tlie best evidence to be obtained tliese lines were 
situated on the rising ground a little north of the old monu- 
ment on the line of division between lioston and Koxbury, and 
near Clifton Place. An abattis was formed of trees felled with 
the tnj)s pointed towards Boston, as an obstacle to the much- 
dreaded Light Horse,- — -a needless precaution, for this choice 
band of heroes never appeared, outside their defences. The 
emljankments were strengthened with plardcs filled between 
with earth. The works were bastioned, and rested with either 
flank on arms of the sea. 

The American advanced post was first at the George Tavern, 
which stood a little south of the site of the present Washington 
Market, and was buiiit by a British sally on the night of h>un- 
day, July 30, 1775, 

The George Tavern, sometimes called the St. George, Avhich 
we have had occasion to mention in connection with the recep- 
tions of some of the royal governors, was included in an estate 
of more than eighteen acres, extending nearly or quite to Box- 
bury line on the south and across the marshes to the great 
creek, Avhich formed its boundary on the Avest. It had or- 
chards, gardcnis, and a site Avhich commanded a view of the town 
of Boston and the harV)or on one hand, and Cambridge Bay 
with the shores of the mainland on the other. While it re- 
mained, but few travellers might venture over the gloomy 
Xeck, over which the cold winds swept with violence, without 
a pause under its hospitable roof. 

The George is noted in the history of the Colony as the 
place of meeting of the General Court in 1721, perhaps on 
account of the ju'cvalence of the small-pox in Boston in that 
year, when it raged with frightful violence. In 1730, while it 
was kept by Simon Bogers, the Probate Court was held there, 
liogers continued to be landlord until 1734. It was kept at 
different times by Gideon Gardner and Samuel ]\Iears, and in 
176!) b}' Edward Bai'ilin, \\\in cliangcd the name t(.) the King's 
Arms, a title it retained l)ut a short time. In 1788 a tavern 
was reopened on or near the site of the George, but was not of 
Ions; continuance. 



THE NECK AND THE FORTIFIC.VTIONS. 429 

Before the destruction of the tavern the Americans threw np 
a "woi'k a httle below wliere it had stood, and within musket- 
range of tlie British outpost. To this point it was AVashington's 
daily (nistom to proceed, accompanied by liis personal staif, com- 
posed of men subsequently famous in Eevolutionary annals. 
There was Mifflin, first aide-de-camp, afterwards governor of 
Pennsylvania, who, as president of the Congress in 1783, re- 
ceived the resignation of his old chief; Joseph Beed of Phila- 
delphia, his trusted friend and secretary ; and Horatio Gates, 
whose military ex})erience enabled him to fill acceptably the 
arduous post of adjutant-general, and bring a little order out 
of the chaos that prevailed in the Aauerican camp. 

General Washington's ixniform at this time was " a blue coat 
with buff-colored facings, a rich epaulet on each shoulder, 
buff nnder-dress, and an elegant small-sword ; a black cockade 
in his hat." '' It was at this point, from which he had, in 1775, 
daily viewed the inactivity of his enemy with a surprise he has 
not concealed in his letters, that the general, in 1789, then 
become President, mounted his famous white charger, a present 
from Charles IV. of Spain, and, attended by his secretaries, 
Colonel Lear and INlajor Jackstjn, made his last entry intj Bos- 
ton. 

Proliably no great personage has ever lived whose career has 
afforded feAver anecilotes to his biographer then General Wash- 
ington. The calm dignity of his manner repelled every at- 
tempt at familiarity, but this dignity Avas in no way associated 
witli hauteur. It is related that Gouverneur ]\Iorris, having 
nndertaken once the hazardous experiment of accosting the 
President unceremoniously, declared that nothing would induce 
him to repeat the attempt. The French officers who served 
with Eochambeau were at once captivated by Washington's 
noble presence and gracious manner. 

The Washington Market stands on the site of the Washing- 
ton House, in which l\Irs. Bowson once kept her school for 
young ladies, and which, under the control of the Cooleys, 
father and son, became a much-frequented resort for sleighing- 

* Tluiclier's Military Journal. 



430 LANDMARKS OF BOSTON. 

])artics, Avhen the Xeck was the coTirse to wliicli, in winter, the 
beauty and fashion of the town repaired. 

Next south of tlie luarlcet is a three-story brick bnildinc,', 
kept as a tavern as far back as 1820, and known first as ^^"asll- 
ington Ilall, and subse<piently as the Washington HoteL It 
was ke})t in 1837, and for some time subsequently, by Amherst 
Eaton of Concert HaU. Both of these houses were on the 
George Tavern estate. 

In 1737 tlie following petition Avas presented by Stephen 
]\Iinot to lie alloA\'ed a license to sell li(|uors at his tavern on 
the Xeck (supposed tQ be the George Tavern). It was allowed. 

" That your petitioner lately met with very heavy losses liy the 
way of tlie sea it stands him in stead to put his estate on the laud 
to the best improvement he possibly can in a way of Trade &c. 
And as he designs to keep for sale a A^ariety of goods suitable for the 
country, So he apprehends it Avill but little avail him unless he may 
be pennitted to supply his customers Avith Rum also, because they 
usually ehuse to take up all they Avant at one place." 

Thaeher, Avho Avas a surgeon of Colonel Jackson's regiment 
in the old Avar, relates an amusing incident of the arrival of 
that regiment at Uoston after a forced march from Providence, 
E. I. : — 

"A severe rain all night did not much impede our march, but the 
troops were In'oken down Avith iatigue. We reached Boston at sun- 
rising, and near the entrance of the Neck is a tavern, having for its 
sign a representation of a globe, Avith a man in the act of struggling 
to get through it ; his head and shoulders Avere out, his ai'ins ex- 
tended, and the rest of his body enclosed in the globe. On a label 
from his mouth Avas Avritten, ' Oh ! hoAV shall I get through this 
Avoild 1 ' This was read by the soldiers, and one of them exclaimed, 
'List, d — n you, list, and you A\-ill soon get througli this Avorld ; our 
regiment will be through it in an hour or two if we don't halt by 
tlie way.' " 

The scarcity of powder Avithin the American lines during the 
siege of I'>ost(ui is connected Avitli an incident not Avithout 
interest. At lirst, a foAV country people Avere allowed to pass 
into toAvn with ]irovisions, after undergoing a search at the 
iJritisIi post at the Green Store. Market-Avagons Avere but little 



THE NECK AND THE FOUTIFICATIOXS. 431 

used, the farmers riding on liorseback witli panniers containing 
tlieir marketing. George Minot, of Dorchester, from his fre- 
quent visits was well known to the guard, who allowed him to 
pass without examination. Had they looked into the honest 
man's panniers, they would have found them well filled with 
" villanous saltpetre," which he was, at great personal risk, 
conveying to his friends. The money to buy the powder was 
furnished by Minot's father, Jolin Minot, a selectman of Dor- 
chester. The government afterwards acknowledged and paid 
the claim, with which Minot purchased a part of Thompson's 
Islantl. 

It is a matter of history that, within musket-shot of twenty 
British regiments, Washington's whole army was disbanded 
and reorganized; it is no less true that in August, 1775, the 
entire supply of powder was only nine rounds per man. Wash- 
ington's letters at this time are full of anxiety. 

The flags used by the Americans during the siege of Boston 
have always been a subject of much interest. The flag of thir- 
teen stripes was first raised on the heights near Boston, prcjb- 
dbly at or near the commander-in-chief's headquarters, January 
2, 1776. Letters from Boston at this time say that the regulars 
did not understand it ; and, as the king's speech had just been 
sent to the Americans, they thoiight the new flag was a token 
of submission. The British Aiinual Eegister of 1776 says, 
more correctly, that the provincials burnt the king's speech, and 
changed their colors from the plain red ground they had hith- 
erto used to a flag with thirteen stripes, as a symbol of the 
number and union of the colonies. This was, without doubt, 
the flag that, on the 17th March, 1776, waved over the Old 
State House and Province House, and was borne in the van of 
the American troops. 

The Pine Tree^ Eattlesnake, and striped flag were used indis- 
criminately iTutil July, 1777, when the blue union, with the 
stars, was added to the stripes, and the flag established by law. 
Tlie |)rivate arms of Washington, bearing three stars in the 
upper portion, and three bars across the escutcheon, were 
thought to have had some connection with the flag, but this 
does not appear probable. 



432 LANDMARKS OF BOSTON". 

" Forever float that standard sheet ! 

AVhere breathes the foe but falls before ns ? 
With iVeedom's soil beneath our feet, 

And freedom's banner streaming o'er us ! " 

Tlie first troops to enter the town after tlie evacitation Avero 
five hundred men, under command of Colonel Eljcnezer Learned, 
who unbarred and opened the gates of the British works. 
General A\^ard accompanied this detachmijnt. They found the 
Neck thickly scattered with " crows'-feet " to impede their ad- 
vance. At the same time a detachment under General Putnam, 
with whom was Colonel John Stark, landed at the foot of the 
Common, and to the old wolf-hunter belongs the honor of first 
commanding in Boston as the successor of Sir AVilliam Howe. 
On the 20th the main army marched in, and on the 22d such 
of the inhabitants as had been separated from their friends 
during the ten months' siege thronged into the town. Putnam 
took possession of and garrisoned all the posts. 

Washington himself entered Boston the day after the evacu- 
ation, l)ut, as the small-pox prevailed in town, the army did 
not march in until the 20th, as stated. By Wasliington's order, 
works were thrown up on Fort Hill, and those defending from 
the country were demolished. The general remained ten days 
in Boston. He attended the meetings of the Legislature, and 
on the 28th, accompanied by the other general officers and their 
suites, marched in procession from the Council Chamber to the 
Old Brick Church, where appropriate services were held, after 
which a dinner was provided for the general and his officers at 
the Bunch of Grapes, in King Street. During his stay Wash- 
ington reviewed the Continental troops on the Common. 

Tlie first national medal voted by Congress was presented to 
General Washington for his successful conduct of the siege of 
Boston, by a resolution passed March 25, 1776. It was struck 
in Paris from a die by Duvivier. 

Wilkes, in a speech delivered in Parliament on the evacua- 
tion, said : " All the military men of this country now confess 
that the retreat of General Howe from P)Oston was an al)solute 
flight ; as much so, sir, as that of JNIahomet from ]\Iecca." 

One other grand martial })ageant of the Iievolutionary period 



THE NECK AND THE FORTIFICxVTIONS. 433 

remains to be chronicled. This was the entry of Koehambeau's 
forces into Boston in December, 1782. The army was com- 
manded by the brave General Baron de Viomenil, Eochambeau 
having taken leave of his troops at Providence, returning with 
a part of his staff to France. 

The French army was divided into four grand divisions, to 
Avhich was added the field artillery. The second division was 
the first to arrive in the neighborhood of Boston, on the 4th, 
the first and third on the 5th, and the fourth on the Gth. The 
artillery did not arrive until the 18th. A few desertions oc- 
curred on the march, and the officers were obhged to exercise 
the greatest vigilance, as many of the poor fellows preferred 
remaining in the country to embarking for an unknown desti- 
nation. 

IS^otwithstanding it was midwinter, the troops, before enter- 
ing the town on the 7th, clianged their dress in the open air, 
and appeared in such splendid array as gave but little hint of 
their long, weary march from Yorktown. Their welcome was 
enthusiastic and heartfelt. At a town-meeting held Saturday, 
December 7, of which Samuel Adams was moderator, James 
Sullivan and Samuel Barret, with the selectmen, were appointed 
a committee to wait on General Viomenil with an address of 
welcome, to which the Baron returned a courteous reply. 

"What shall be said of the editorial and reportorial enterprise 
of that day ] I>eyond the brief notice we have given of the action 
in town-meeting, — and that appears as an advertisement, — 
there is not a single line referring to the entry in the columns 
of the Independent Clironicle, then published in Boston, nor 
any clew to a sojourn of seventeen days in the news department ; 
the other two papers dismiss the affair each with half a dozen 
lines. Such an event would now occupy the greater part of 
one of our mammoth journals ; not the smallest scrap of 
information would be too trivial, not a button would escape 
scrutiny. To the greater enterprise of Isaiah Thomas's Mas- 
sachusetts Spy, and particularly to its Boston correspondent, 
regular or special, who writes under date of December 12, 1782, 
we are indebted for the following : — 

19 BB 



434 LANDMAEKS OF BOSTON. 

" Last week arrived in town from the soutliward, in four divisiong, 
the troops of o'ur generous ally, the King of France. A finer corps 
of men never paraded the streets of Boston in the infamous adminis- 
trations of Bernard, Hatchinson, and Gage. The quiet, peaceahle, and 
orderly behavior of these troops during their long march sufficiently 
contradicts the infamous falsehoods and misrepresentations usually 
imposed on the world by -perfidious Britons, who have often led us 
to entertain an unfavorable opinion of the French troops. We are 
happily convinced that such a character belongs v:kolhj and onhj to 
the troops employed by the Koyal Despot of Britain." 

Tlie day was favorable, and the sunbeams danced and glit- 
tered on the bayonets of these veterans of two continents as 
they proudly marched over the Xeck and througli the modest 
streets of Old Luston. At their head rode Vionu'^nil, who 
achieved such renown at Yorktown, and afterwards hjst his life 
heroically defending his king at the attack on tlie Tuileries. 
At his side rode the Chevalier Alexander de Lameth, severely 
wounded at Yorktown, and afterwards a soldier of I^apoleon ; 
the ]Mar(|uis de Champcenetz ; Count Mathieu Dumas ; Alex- 
ander Berthier, afterwards the adjutant-general and confidant 
of Napoleon, but deserting him in the hour of adversity ; 
Lynch, the intrepid Englishman, who served in the ranks of 
France, and many others wlio gained renown in the wars 
into Avhich that nation was shortly after plunged. Tlie offi- 
cers wore singular-looking, two-cornered cocked hats Avith the 
white cockade, the uniform being white broadcloth, wdth fa- 
cings of red, blue, or green, according to the corps to which 
they belonged ; the general alone wore a blue overdress faced 
with red. All the officers wore high military boots, were 
splendidly mounted, and their equipments and side-arms were 
elegant and costly. 

A c(miidete band of music accompanied the troops, whoso 
martial strains were the first the Bostonians had heard since the 
evacuation by the British forces ; our own army yet marched to 
the music of the fife and drum. 

After these marched the regiment EojtiI Deux-Ponts, the lar- 
gest in the army, in four battalions, with its colonel, Count 



THE NECK AND THE FORTIFICATIONS. 435 

Christian tie Deux-Ponts, from whom the rogimont took its 
name, at its head; Count Christian afterwards commanded tlie 
Bavarian corps at the battle of Hohenlinden with distinguished 
valor. Count William, second colonel of the same regiment, 
who was wounded in the assault on the redoubt at Yorktown, 
wdiere he Avon the order of Saint Louis, was on his way to 
France with the news of Cornwallis's surrender. The dress of 
this regiment was white. The men wore cocked hats, with 
pompous instead of cockades, woollen epaulets, white cross- 
belts, from which was suspended a short hanger and cartouche- 
box, and spatterdashes ; the hair Avas worn en queue ; — so far 
the description will apply to the whole army, the colors varied 
in all the regiments. 

Xext came the Soissonnais, with Count Segur, son of the ISIin- 
ister at War, and afterwards a peer of France, in their fr(jnt. 
Segur w^as colonel en second of the regiment, but his senior, 
Count de Saint Maime, had come into Boston in advance of the 
army. Segur is also knoAvn as a historian, and author of his 
own memoirs. 

The regiment Saint-Onge, in Avhite and gi'een, follows, Avith 
Colonel Count de Custines, Avho became a general, and the 
Prince de Broglie, second in command. Both fell under the 
axe of the guillotine during the French Eevolution. 

The Bourbonnais in black and red, the infantry of Lauzun, 
all Avith arms and accoutrements in complete order, croAvned 
Avith the laurels of A'ictory and bearing the Avhitc standard and 
golden lilies in their serried ranks, close the brilliant pro- 
cession. 

An episode of this fomous entry deserA^es mention. Young 
Talleyrand Perigord, brother of Prince Talleyrand, Avas on the 
staff of the Marquis Chastellux, Avho Avished to take him Ijaok 
to France ; but the young Avarrior of eighteen Avas determined 
to remain with the army, and, haA'ing obtained a grenadier's 
uniform, marched in the ranks of the Soissonnais, with his 
haA'ersack on his back and his gun on his shoulder. Talleyrand 
Avas well knoAA^n to the superior officers, Avho pretended not to 
recognize him, and his warlike ardor became the town talk. 



436 LANDMARKS OF BOSTON. 

He was cliristened Va-Je-hon-coeur (go willingly), and was the 
subject of many attentions. 

Tlie cavalry of the Duke de Lauzun, which had crossed steel 
with Tarleton's famous troopers and held him at bay at ( Jlouces- 
ter, Virginia, were left behind with Washington's army on the 
Hudson. They carried lances, and were styled Uhlans, — a name 
rendered formidable by the I'russians in the late Franco-German 
war. The uniform of this famous corps was a blue hussar 
jacket, with high-crowned round hat. Their leader, the beau- 
ideal of a dasliing cavalier, carried tlie news of the capitulation 
of CornwalHs to the king. When condemned afterwards by 
the tribunal of Fouquier Tinville, a moment before his ex- 
ecution he turned to those who Avere to suffer with him and said, 
" It is finished, gentlemen : I depart on the great journey." To 
the executioner he offered a glass of wine, saying, " Take it, you 
have need of courage to perform your duty." 

The artillery, although it did not join in the display, must 
not be forgotten. This arm was attired in blue, faced with red, 
with white spatterdaslies and red pompons. The men wore the 
short Koman sword, and carried their hrelocks by the slings. 
The heavy artillery train remained with the American forces, to 
assist, if necessary, in the reduction of New York. 

A great concourse of people came out to the Neck to welcome 
the gallant Frenchmen, and as the brilliant column moved 
along it was met with the liveliest demonstrations of joy and 
affection. Ladies waved their handkerchiefs from the windows, 
and the old streets echoed again with the plaudits of the people. 
Our readers will doubtless agree that, of the many pageants of 
which the Xeck has been the theatre, none were so well worth 
Avitnessiug as on the day when the superb host of our ally, 
Louis XVI., with closed ranks and firm tread passed into the 
town ; or that other day when, 

" In tlieir ragged regimentals, 
Stood the Old Continentals," 

with little of the pomp of war in their appearance, but with 
the light of victory in every countenance, as they marched in 



THE NECK AND THE FORTIFICATIONS. 437 

triumph through the abandoned works of the enemy, inaugu- 
luting by their valor and constancy the hope of a successful 
issue to the conflict just begun. 

The stay of the French was improved by a round of reviews, 
balls, dinners, and receptions. The officers found quarters and 
genuine hospitality among the inhabitants, and the men were 
Avell cared for. Both officers and men parted with keen regret 
I'rom the frientls they had found, — a regret sincerely shared by 
the inhabitants. At a lire which occurred in the town the 
French displayed such good-will and gallantry in assisting to 
extinguish it that they were publicly thanked. On the 11th, 
Governor Hancock and the council gave one of their solemn 
feasts to the general and held officers, the Marquis de Vaudreud, 
and principal officers of the fleet. 

The fleet of the Marquis lay in the roads, consisting of the 
eighty gun-ships Le Triomphaut, Le Couronne, and Le Due de 
Bourgogne ; the seventy-fours L'Hercule, Le Souverain, Le 
Keptune, La Bourgogne, Northumberland, Le Bravo, Le Cit- 
oyen, and the two frigates L'Amazone and La Ner^ide. 

At tliis time the squadron was joined by a most notable vol- 
unteer in Jolin Paul Jones, who was, at his own solicitation, 
permitted to accompany M. de Yaudreuil. He was received 
with distinction by the Marquis on board his own vessel, Le 
Trionqihant, and lodged with the Baron Yiomenil. The des- 
tination of the squadron — a secret which was well kept — was 
Jamaica. On the 24th of December the fleet set sail from 
Boston for the rendezvous at Porto Cabello, which after nu- 
merous disasters it reached in February. AVhile lying there, 
Paul Jones fell dangerously ill of the fever. Peace ensued before 
the fleet of D'Estaing, which was to co-operate, arrived from 
Cadiz. It will be remembered that Jones was compelled, by a 
resolution of Congress, to surrender the America, the building 
of which he had for sixteen months superintended, to M. de 
Vaudreuil, to replace Le Magnifiqiie, which had belonged to the 
fleet of the INIarqiiis. 

The reader, who has patiently followed us in the attempt to 
reconotiuct to some extent the Boston of our flithers, to rebuild 



438 LANDMARKS OF BOSTON. 

in imagination their liabitations, and to revive their venerable 
customs, may, in a measure, realize those changes which have 
SAvept over the ancient peninsula, and wellnigh totally effaced 
its landmarks ; and while he feels a just pride in that growth 
Avhich is the expression of power, he may yet render due tribute 
to the solid traits and heroic deeds of those antique characters 
Avho laid the foundations deep and permanent on which have 
risen the Metropolis of New England. 



INDEX. 



INDEX. 



Abbott, Colonel, 379. 

Academy of Music, first established in 
Boston, 259. 

Adams, Charles Francis, birthplace, 
319; public services, 321 ; marries, 
321. 

Adams Express Company, 76, 80. 

Adams Hall. Sec Boylston Hall. 

Adams House, site and name of, 392. 

Adams, John, 39, 60 ; incident of his 
nomination of Washington to com- 
mand tlie army, 73, 82,89, 100 ; res- 
idence, 125, 126, 148, 181, 196, 201 ; 
sails for France, 221, 230 ; defends 
Preston, 249, 309 ; description of 
Hutchinson's Coiuicil, 347, 353, 355, 
357 ; office, 402. 

Adams, John Qnincy, library of, 37, 39, 
125, 201 ; residence, 319 ; sketch of, 

319 ; incidents of mission to Russia, 

320 ; Lafayette visits, 364 ; names 
frigate Brandywine, 382 ; office, 402 ; 
lays corner-stone of Boylston Market, 
403, 404. 

Adams, Laban, innkeeper, 392. 

Adams, Samuel, 57, 69, 71 ; presides 
at Civic Feast, 110 ; proscribed, 125 ; 
portrait, 140, 149, 214, 220 ; at Tea 
Party Meeting, 229 ; resemblance to 
General Gage, 243, 248 ; opposed to 
theatres, 261 ; birthplace, 281 ; fire- 
ward, 295, 297 ; residence and sketch 
of, 308, 309 ; drafts State Constitu- 
tion, 309 ; Governor of Massachu- 
setts, 309 ; death, 309 ; anecdote of, 
309 ; personal appearance, 309 ; de- 
scription of hi 1 birthplace, 309 ; lays 



comer-stone of New State House, 
344; bust of, 345, 348, 372, 401, 
406, 433. 

Adams, Samuel, senior, 380. 

Adams School, 314. 

Adams, Seth, printing-office, 253. 

Adams Street (Kilby), 109. 

Adams, W. T., 392. 

Adelphi Theatre, 74. 

Admiral Dufl", ship, 211. 

Admiral Vernon Tavern, 111 ; kept 
by, 112. 

Adventure, Galley (Kidd's vessel), 
78. 

Advertiser Building, 79. 

Albion, 56. 

Alboni, Madame, 394. 

Alden Court, 371. 

Alcott, A. Bronson, school, 312. 

Alcott, Louisa May, 312. 

Alert, sloop-of-war, 171. 

Alexander, Emperor, traits of, 320. 

Alexis, Grand Duke, in Boston, 371. 

Allen, A. S., innkeeper, 392. 

Allen, Rev. James, old stone resi- 
dence, 363. 

Allen, Jeremiah, 261 ; residence, 363. ' 

Allen Street, 339, 370. 

Allen, Wm. H., 197 ; W. H., 390. 

Allotment of lands, 14. 

Allston, Wasliington, 38 ; studio, 276 ; 
picture of Belsliazzar, 276 ; sketch 
and anecdotes of, 276, 277 ; death, 
276 ; picture of Elijah, 367. 

Almshouse, Old, 56 ; site and descrip- 
tion of, 299 ; erected, 299 ; removed, 
300 ; management of, 300 ; occupied 
by wounded, 300, 352 ; at West 
End, 375 ; description of, 376. 



442 



INDEX. 



Amazone, French ship, 437. 

Ambhird, James, residence, 145. 

American Academy of Arts and 
Sciences, 37, 38, 39. 

American Ampliitheatre, 378. 

American Coffee House, 41, 108. 

American Congregational Association, 
363. 

American House, 68, 70. 

America, ship, 180, 437. 

America, seventy-foiir, built, 180. 

American Works, location and descriji- 
tion of, 427, 428, 429. 

Ames, Fisher, 82 ; funeral, 353, 403. 

Ames, Joseph, 141. 

Ames Manufacturing Company, 58. 

Ames, Richard, 'shot, 326. 

Amherst, General Jetfrey, 240, 310 ; 
in Boston, 326. 

Aniory, Jonathan, residence, 171. 

Amory, Rufus G., 390. 

Aniory, Tliomas, builds Club House, 
corner Park and Beacon Streets, 
352. 

Amory, Tliomas C, 196. 

Anabaptists, 15. 

Ancient Arch, Lynn Street, 199, 200. 

Ancient and Honorable Artillery, 83 ; 
first commander of, 88 ; Governor 
Dummer, Captain of, 102 ; history 
of, 137, 138 ; rendezvous, 138 ; 
armory, 138, 157 ; at Governor Shir- 
ley's funeral, 267, 315, 331. 

Andover, Mass., 26, 60. 

Andover Theological Seminary, 55. 

Andre, John, execution of, 100. 

Andrew, John A., office, 83 ; statue of, 
345. 

Andrews, Benj., 250. 

Andrews, Ebenezer T., 253. 

Andrews, Jolin, 307. 

Andres, Lady Anne, burial-place of, 
35 ; Iniried, 228 ; tomb of, 229 ; fu- 
neral, 390. 

Andros, Sir Edmund, 15, 31, 35, 40. 148 ; 
takes possession of Old South, 228 ; 
house, 228 ; deposed, 285 ; reputed 
residence of, 228, 390, 391. 

Annapolis, Naval Museum at, 106. 

Anne, Queen, 33, 64. 



Anne Street. See North Street, 127, 

153. 
Annual Register, British, 431. 
Anthology Club, 37, 124 ; headquar- 
ters, 268 ; William Tudor, 304. 
Antinomians, sect of, 63. 
Antiijuarian Society, 237. 
Appleton, General, 356. 
Appleton, Samuel, 32. 
Appollonio, Mr., 298. 
Apthorp, Charles, 32, 386. 
Apthorp, Charles W., 358. 
Apthorp, Madam, house, 121. 
Arljuthnot, Admiral, 221. 
Arched passage-ways, 121 ; peculiar 

tenure of, 255. 
Arch Street, 39. 
Area of Boston, 8. 
Argus, brig, 181, 197. 
Armstrong, Captain Samuel, 221. 
Armstrong, John, Jr., 66. 
Armstrong, Jonathan, Postmaster of 

Boston, 92. 
Armstrong, S. T. , 298 ; residence and 

bookstore, 338, 371. 
Ashburton Place, 50 ; named, 140, 362 ; 

formerly Somerset Court, 363. 
Ashliurton treaty, 45. 
Asia, British frigate, 217. 
Asp, scliooner, 221. 
Aston, Thomas, 386. 
Asylum for Indigent Boys, 209. 
Atiienanim Block, 280. 
Athenajum, Boston, 37, 38, 39 ; All- 

ston's pictures in, 276, 277, 280, 317 ; 

statues in, 344, 345. 
Atkinson Street. See Congress. 
Atkinson, Theodore, 273. 
Atlantic Avenue, 8, 115. 
Auchmuty's Lane. .S'cc Essex Street. 
Auchmuty, Robert, senior, 402. 
Auclunuty, Robert, younger, residence 

and sketch of, 402. 
Auchmuty, Sir Samuel, 402. 
Austin, Charles, killed, 114. 
Austin, Jose])h, 168. 
Aurora, privateer, 171. 
Avon Street, News Letter printed near, 

S2 ; projected by, 365 ; residents of, 

392. 



INDEX. 



443 



B. 



Back Bay, improvement, 8, 333. 
Back Street, 7, 153, 219. See Salem. 
Bainbriilge, William, 100, 186 ; action 

with tiie Java, 190, 191, 194, 355. 
Bainbridge, sloop-of-war, 18.5. 
Balch, Nathanifa, 314, 341 ; shop, 394. 
Baldwin, Loammi, 38, 152 ; Engineer 

of Dry Dock, Charlestown, 185 ; En- 
gineer of Mill Dam, 333. 
Baldwin Place, 151 ; Second Baptist 

Church in, 226, 416. 
Baldwin, Rev. Thomas, buried, 296. 
Ballard, innkeeper, 107. 
Ballard, John, 294. 
Ballou, Rev. Hosea, 64. 
Bancroft, George, 166 ; residence, 385. 
Banks, Commodore, 116. 
Banks, Nathaniel P., 341. 
Banner, Peter, architect of Park Street 

Church, .301. 
Bannister's Lane. See Winter Street. 
Baptist Bethel, 416. 
Barber, Nathaniel, 269. 
Barbour, Major, 357. 
Bardin, Edwanl, innkeeper, 428. 
Baring, Alexander, in Boston, 140. 
Barker, James, innkeeper, 105. 
Barker, Josiah, 185, 193. 
Barlow, Joel, 193. 
Baniard, Benjamin, (>Q. 
Barnstable, 44. 
Barre, Colonel Isaac, portrait, 140, 

269, 407. 
Barrell, Joseph, estate of, 254 ; pioneer 

in Northwest Coast trade, 254 ; 

sketch of, 389 ; store, 389. 
Barret, Samuel, 433. 
Barrett, George. 292. 
Barrett, Mrs. George, 40 ; debut in 

Boston, 318. 
Barrett, George L., 2.56, 318. 
Barricade, The, 8, 114 ; description of, 

115, 284. 
Barrister's Hall built, 317. 
Barry, Commodore John, 182. 
Barry, Mr., 292. 
Bartol, Rev. C. A., 374. 
Barton, Mr., 273. 



Barton's Point, 24 ; ropewalks at, 273, 
369 ; works to be assaulted, 359 ; 
copper-works and intrenchmcnts at, 
369. 

Barton Street, 375. 

Bass, Henry, residence of, 283, 406. 

Bates, Joshua, notice of, 324. 

Bath Street, 269. 

Batterymarch Street, 106 ; old water 
front, 110 ; shipyards on, 112 ; filled 
in, 288. 

Batterymarch, The, 286. 

Battery Street (Alley), 176. 

Battery Wharf, 116,"^ 168, 177. 

Battle of Lexington, relics of, in State 
House, 347. 

Baudoin. See Bowdoin. 

Baylies, Hon. W., 39. 

Beach Street, 7, 404 ; great fire in, 
416 ; Neck begins at, 418. 

Beach Street Market, 404. 

Beacon Hill, 3, 6, 7, 10, 17, 47, 52, 54 ; 
material used to fill Mill Pond, 152 ; 
called Gentry Hill, 299 ; guns cap- 
tured on, 327 ; British works on, 
328 ; camp of the Light Horse, 329 ; 
ropewalks on, 329 ; monument on, 
345, 352 ; summit of, 349 ; to be 
assaulted, 359, 365. 

Beacon Street, 4, 37, 53, 56; Alms- 
house in, 299 ; town property on 
sold, 300 ; liigh blufi'at foot of, 325 ; 
British works on, 328 ; named, 333 ; 
aspect of, in 1775, 333 ; residents of, 
333, 360 ; considered out of town, 
338 ; terminus of, in 1722, 352. 

Beacon, The, 17 ; description and his- 
tory of, 349, 352. 

Bean, Mary, keeps the Admiral Ver- 
non, 112. 

Beaver, tea shiji, 282. 

Bedford Place, 390. 

Bedford Street, 102, 230 ; called Pond 
Lane, 381 ; Blind Lane a jiart of, 
381, 390. 

Beecher, Henry Ward, 147. 

Beecher, Lalian S. , 194. 

Beecher, Lyman, 147. 

Bcecher's (Lyman) Church, site of, 
147. 



444 



INDEX. 



Beer, William, 206. 

Beer Lane, 155. 

Belcher, Andrew, residence of, 101 ; 
warehouse, 102. 

Belcher, Governor Jonathan, 40, 67 ; 
residence of, 102 ; portrait of, 347 ; 
gives land for Hollis Street Church, 
414. 

Belcher (and Armstrong), 3-38. 

Belclier's Lane. See Purchase Street, 
2S1. 

Belknap's Alley (Brattle Street), 71. 

Belknap, Jeremy, 239, 263 ; buried, 
296 ; residence of, 3S1. 

Belknap Street, 329 ; ropewalk on, 
352 ; named, 370. 

Bell Alley, 162. See Prince Street. 

Bellamy, Samuel, 49. 

Belle Poule, frigate, 139. 

Belliiigham, Governor Richard, resi- 
dence of, 51, 53, 54, 56, 58, 91 ; 
tomb of, 296. 

Belloniont, Earl of, 77 ; house of, 391. 

Bcnnet, David. See Spencer Phipps. 

Bennet Street, 153, 213. 

Bent, Ann, shop of, 391. 

Bentley, Joshua, 66. 

Bentley, Samuel, 184. 

Bentley, Rev. William, anecdote of, 
187, 188. 

Berkeley, George (Bishop), 72. 

Berkeley Street, 385. 

Bernard, Governor Francis, admits 
British troops to Faneuil Hall, 89, 
236 ; reception, 241 ; proclaims last 
crowned head in colony, 24i ; coun- 
try residence, 242 ; effects .stolen, 
242, 247, 3(13 ; town residence, 307, 
313, 348, 3.52 ; account of Liberty 
Tree, 398, 399. 

Berry Street. See Channing. 

Berry Street Academy, 262. 

Berry, Grace, 205, 207. 

Berthier, Alexander, in Boston, 433. 

Betliel Church, site of, 168. 

Bethune's Corner, 390. 

Black, Rev. William, 172. 

Black Horse Lane. See I'rince Street. 

Black Horse Tavern, 219. 

Blackstone, Sir William, 4, 47. 



Blackstone, William, his settlement, 

2, 3 ; house, 3, 10 ; orchard, 3 ; 

claim to the Peninsula, 4 ; marries, 

dies, 5 ; lot, 28 ; Common purchased 

from, 305 ; reserved six acres, 334. 
Blackstone's Point, 3. 
Blackstone's Spring, 3, 4. 
Blackstone Scpiare, 6. 
Blackstone Street, 6, 7, 68, 127 ; built 

in channel of Mill Creek, 132 ; 

named, 152. 
Blagden, Rev. G. W., settled in Salem 

Street Church, 220 ; resigns pastor- 
ate of Old South, 220. 
Blake (and Alden), 130. 
Blake, W. R., 291. 
Bland, Mr., 74. 
Bible and Heart-, 234. 
Bigelow, Colonel, 209. 
Billings, Hammatt, 38. 
Birthplace of Franklin, 251 ; burnt, 

252. 
Biscaccianti, Eliza, 291. 
Bishop's Alley, 253. See Hawley 

Street. 
Bishop, Madam Anna, 368. 
Bishop, Nathaniel, innkeeper, 248, 

253. 
Bishop-Stoke Street, 52. 
Blessing of the Bay, first ship built in 

vicinity of Boston, 178. 
Blew Anchor, 121, 122. 
Blind Lane. See Bedford Street. 
Bloody Monday, 114. 
Blossom Street built, 376. 
Blott's Lane. Sec Winter Street. 
Blowers, Sampson Salter, office, 402. 
Blue Anchor Tavern, location of, 121. 
Blue Ball, The, 146 ; description of, 

147, 162. 
Blue Bell and Indian Queen, site and 

sketch of, 248 ; another in Brom- 

fi eld's Lane, 248, 253, 275. 
Boarded Alley, or Board Alley, 155, 

253 ; theatre in, 261. See Hawley 

Street. 
Boardman, Rev. Mr., 172. 
Bolter, Thomas, 282. 
Bolton, Dr., British .surgeon, 108. 
Bonajiarle, Jeroiue, auecdote of, 139. 



INDEX. 



445 



Bookseller's Row, 338. 

Book of Possessions, 19, 88. 

Boot, Kirk, 196 ; mansion of, 371. 

Booth, Junius Brutus, 40, 41, 394; 
nianagtr of Treniout Theatre, 292. 

Eorlaud's Wliarf, 127. 

Boston, a village, 2. 

Boston Bay, 2. 

Boston Chronicle, 107. 

Boston, England, 6. 

Boston Evening Post, office of, 234. 

Boston, frigate, built, 181, 195 ; his- 
tory of, 196, 197 ; Old Boston, 
frigate, 221. 

Boston Gazette, 391. 

Boston Jail, 65 (Old Prison), 76, 77, 
78 ; New Jail, 78 ; burnt, 78 ; 
County, 78 ; Debtor's, 78 ; keys of 
Old Prison, 78 ; Leverett Street, 
78 ; description of, 374 ; removed to 
Charles Street, 375. 

Boston Library, incorporated and 
located, 255. 

Boston Liglit Dragoons escort Lafay- 
ette, 356. 

Boston Light Infantry, 190, 262. * 

Boston Massacre, Knox's relation of, 
85, 89 ; burial of victims, 297 ; no 
monument to, 298. 

Boston Pier (Long Wharf), 114. 

Boston Port Bill, 68. 

Boston Regiment, The, 21, 65, 210 ; at 
Governor Shirley's fimeral, 267 ; 
detachment guard tea ships, 281 ; 
receives Lafayette, 355, 398. 

Boston Stone, 143 ; history of, 144, 145. 

Boston Theatre, 254 ; opened, 256 ; 
Edmund Kean's first appearance at, 

257 ; second appearance, and riot, 

258 ; Mrs. Rowson, 258 ; Macready, 

259 ; John Howard Paine, 259 ; La- 
fayette at, 259, 364 ; architect and 
description of, 259, 260 ; cast on 
ojiening night, 260. 

Boston and Worcester Railroad, Com- 
jiany pui-chases depot grounds in 
South Cove, 411 ; first equipment 
of, 411. 

Botta, 348. 

Bougainville visits Boston, 341. 



Bourbonnais (French regiment), 435. 

Bourgogne, Due de, French sliip, 437. 

Bourne, Garrett, his lot, 404. 

Boutineau, James, residence of, 253. 

Bowditch, Nathaniel, 39 ; statue of, 
344 ; residence of, 384. 

Bowditch, Nathaniel lugersoll, 384. 

Bowdoin Block, 253. 

Bowdoin College, James Bowdoin a 
patron, 253. 

Bowdoin, Governor James, 39, 57, 
124, 233, 248 ; first President of 
Massachusetts Bank, 303, 337, 349 ; 
residence of, 361 ; sketch of, 361, 
362, 387 ; widow of, 106. 

Bowdoin, James, Jr., residence of, 
253. 

Bowdoin Square, 369 ; changes in, 
370 ; trees in, 409. 

Bowdoin Squai'e Church, site of, 371. 

Bowdoin Street, named, 352 ; called 
Middlecott, 352. 

Bowdoin Street Church, 147. ' 

Bowen, Mr., 41. 

Bowers, John, 52. 

Bowling Green, 369. See Bowdoin 
Square. 

Bownd, Jaines, residence of, 223. 

Boyd, General John P., residence of, 
168 ; commands Fort Independence, 
280. 

Boyden, Simeon, innkeeper, 248. 

Boylston's Alley, 121. 

Boylston Hall, Museum in, 42 ; vari- 
ous occupants of, 403, 404. 

Boylston Market, 130, 354, 398 ; his- 
tory of, 403. 

Boylston Place, Boston Library in, 254. 

Boylston Street, 305 ; called Frog 
Lane, 319 ; Duck Factory in, 322 ; 
British works in, 328. 

Boylston, Thomas, 288. 

Boylston, Ward Nicholas, 288, 403. 

Boylston, Dr. Zabdiel, introduces in- 
oculation, 103, 403. 

Boyne, British frigate, 217. 

Brackett, Anthony, innkeeper, 61. 

Brackett, Joshua, 61. 

Brackett, Richanl, 234. 

Braddock, General Edward, 62. 



446 



INDEX. 



Bradstreet, Governor, portraits of, 346, 
347. 

Braintree, 29. 

Brandywiiie, frigate, named, 382. 

Brattle Square, a j^lacc d' amies, 121, 
120 ; lieadquai'ters for stages, 126. 

Brattle Street, 42 ; opened to Court, 
71, 72, 74 ; barracks in, 121,- 127 ; 
marlcet in, 130. 

Brattle Street Church, 49, 68 ; parson- 
age, 76 ; ruins of, 122 ; history of, 
122, 123, 124, 147, 234; Lafayette 
attends, 355 ; Washmgton attends, 
387, 416. 

Brattle, Thomas, 31. 

Bravo, French ship, 437. 

Bray's Wharf, 129. 

Brasier Iiui, 141. 

Brazen Head, 146, 272. 

Brazer's Building, 91, 92. 

Breed's Hill, 24, 116. 

Brenton, Captain William, Collector 
of Bostoi), 210. 

Brewer, Gardner, 147. 

Brewer, James, 282. 

Brickyards on the Neck, 422. 

Bridewell, site of, 299 ; at West Bos- 
ton, 376. 

Bridge, Thomas W., 35. 

Bridge Lane (Richmond Street), 155. 

Bridge Street, built, 376. 

Bridges, Cambridge, 24 ; Charles Riv- 
er,"^ 24, 180 ; West Boston, 24 ; Do- 
ver Street, 24 ; Craigie's, 24 ; Leeh- 
mere's Point, 25 ; Western Avenue, 
25, 3.32, 333; South Boston, 25; 
Boston South Bridge, 24 ; Canal, 24. 

Bridghani's Wharf, 127. 

Bridgman, Thomas, 205, 207. 

Brigham, Peter B., 71. 

Brighton Street, called Copper, 369. 

Brimmer, Martin, anecdote of, 368. 

Brimstone Corner, 301. 

Brissot, De, in Boston, 341. 

Britannia, steamsliip, 290. 

British Coffee House, 60 ; location of, 
107 ; James Otis assaidted in, 108 ; 
theatricals in, 260. 

British Light Horse, stables and camp, 
329. 



British Society, 31. 

British Stamps (Stamp Act), 80 ; speci- 
mens of, 81 ; burnt, 90 ; riots, 110. 

Broad Street, 109 ; built, llO ; riot in, 
IIL 

Brock, General, 410. 

Bromlield, Edward, residence of, 294, 
362. 

Bromfield House, 248. See Indian 
Queen tavern, 294. 

Bromfield, John, 38. 

Bronifield's Lane, 41. See Street. 

Bromfield Street, 10, 227 ; luimed, 294. 

Bromfield Street Church, 416. 

Brooker, William, Postmaster of Bost 
ton, 79 ; publishes Boston Gazette, 
79, 104. 

Brookline, 14, 418. 

Brooks, Edward, 147. 

Brooks, Governor John, sword of, 40, 
43 ; at Bunker Hill, 86, 100, 355, 
361 J anecdote of, 367. 

Brooks, Peter C, 321. 

Brougham, John, 74. 

Brougham, Mrs., 74. 

Brougham, Lord, 53. 

Brown, Charity, 206. 

Brown, Deacon, 425. 

Brown, Elisha, prevents occupation of 
Factory House by troops, 303. 

Brown, Gawen, 234. 

Brown, Mr., house and barns of, 427 ; 
British outpost, 427 ; destroyed, 
427. 

Brown, William, 49. 

Bruce, Captain James, 282. 

Bryant, Gridley J. F., 58. Sec United 
States Bank, 94. 

Bryant, W. C, 290. 

Buckingham, Joseph T., 403. 

Buckminster, Joseph S., 38, 123, 124. 

Bucks of America, 40. 

Building stone, curious statement 
about, 422. 

Bulfinch, Cliarles, 39 ; Franklin Street 
improvement, 75, 213, 248, 254 
architect of Boston Theatre, 259 
of Federal Street Churcli, 264, 311 
of new State House, 343 ; Beacon 
Hill Monument, 350 ; sketch of. 



INDEX. 



447 



369, 370 ; designs new South Chiirch, 
380 ; Hollis Street Church, 415. 

Bulfinch Street. See Valley Acre, 
370. 

Bullinch Street Church, 416. 

Bulfinch, Thomas, residence of, 369. 

Bull's Head, the home of G. R. T. 
Hewes, 269. 

Bull Run, 46. 

Bull Tavern, site of, 380. 

Bumstead Place, residence of Adino 
Paddock, 294, 295. 

Bunch of Grapes Taveni, location of, 
105, 107 ; Washinston at, 432. 

Bunker Hill, Battle of, 60, 65, 69, 70 ; 
Knox at, 85, 87 ; General Dearborn 
at, 106 ; troops embark for, 113, 
177 ; reminiscences of, 202, 216 ; 
General Howe's address to his 
troops, 245 ; burial-place of soldiers, 

323 ; Lafayette's visit to, 355. 
Bmiker Hill Monument, Webster's 

oration at, 45 ; brass guns in, 72, 
112, 120, 278, 315; architect of, 
312 ; coraer-stone laid, 346, 392. 

Bunker Hill Monimieut Association, 
352. 

Bunker Hill Quarry discovered, 312. 

Burgoyne, General John, 125, 127, 
203, 204, 207 ; his regiment occupies 
Old South, 231 ; anecdotes of, 231, 
232 ; at council, 243, 245 ; aiithor of 
plays, 260, 310 ; capitulation of, 

324 ; occupies Bowdoin's house, 362, 
426, 427. 

Burnet, Gilbert (Bishop), 237. 
Burnet, William, 31 ; residence of, 

65, 105, 236 ; born, 237 ; died, 237, 

246, 247 ; portrait of, 346. , 
Burns, Authony, remanded to slavery, 

113. 
Burr, Aaron, 296. 
Burritt, Elihu, 293. 
Bury Street. See Channing, 263. 
Bussey, Benjamin, residence of, 254, 

416. 
Bute, Lord, hung in effigy, 399. 
Butler, Peter, warehouse and wharf, 

112. 
Butler's Row, 112, 129. 



Butler, Pierce, 121. 

Buttrick, John, 345. 

Buttolph Street, 370. 

Byles, Mather, 29, 64, 67 ; anecdotes 
of, 85, 210; birthplace, 218, 219, 
238 ; resilience and sketch of, 412 ; 
death, 413 ; anecdotes of, 413, 414. 

Byles, Mather, Jr., 216. 

Byng, Adnural, effigy of, 150. 

ByroJi, Lord, 193. 



Cabot, George, residence of, 295 ; 
sketch of, 295, 296. 

Cabot, Edward C, 38. 

Calico printing in Boston, 322. 

Cambridge, 86. 

Cambridge Bay (Back Bay), 414. 

Cambridge Bridge, 325. 

Cambridge Commencement, 16. 

Cambridge Street, extent of, 369. 

Campbell, John, Postmaster of Bos- 
ton, publishes News Letter, 82, 104, 

Campbell, Nicholas, 282. 

Campbell, William, innkeeper, 176. 

Camj), Fredericksburg, 66. 

Caner, Rev. Henry, 29, 32, 35, 267. 

Canton, Mass., Revere's copper works 
at, 120. 

Canton Street, British works near, 
426. 

Cape Cod, 49, 203. 

Cape Cod Row, 316. 

Capen, Nahum, Postmaster of Bos- 
ton, 385. 

Carleton, Sir Guy, 406. 

Carroll, Bishop, 256. 

Carr, Sir Robert, insolent reply to 
Governor Leverett, 174. 

Carter, Master James, 57, 75 ; resi- 
dence of, 76. 

Carter, Mrs., boarding-house of, 353. 

Cartwright, Colonel George, 174. 

Carver, Governor John, sword of, 40. 

Carver Street, British works near, 
328. 

Cass, Lewis, 139, 185, 192. 

Castle, The, 24, 115 ; troops removed 
to, 121, 170 ; French prisoners at. 



448 



INDEX. 



197 ; view of Boston from, 241 ; tea 
consignees at, 331 ; surgeon, 363 ; 
stamps sent to, 399 ; fortified, 421. 

Cathedral (new), 420, 421. 

Cathedral Buildings, site of Cathedral 
of Holy Cross, 255. 

Canons, North End, rendezvous and 
origin of the name, 176. 

Causeway (Mill Pond), 7, 150 ; origin 
of, 15f. 

Causeway Street, 7, 150. 

Cazneau, Mr., residence of, 402. 

Centinel Hill, 370. 

Central House, 121. 

Central Wharf, arch on, 111, 115. 

Centre Street, 37, 1.53, 154. 

Centre Writing Sthool, 57, 75 ; anec- 
dote of, 304. 

Centry Hill, 56. .S'.-c Beacon Hill. 

Centry Street named, 299. See Park 
Street. 

Chambers Street, 370. 

Champney, John, 66. 

Champcenetz, Marquis, 433. 

Change Avemie {see Pillory), 93 ; 
United States Custom House on 
corner of, 105. 

Channing Street, John H. Payne's 
residence in, 262 ; named, 263. 

Channing, Rev. W. E., 263,' 264. 

Chantrey, Sir F., statue of Washing- 
ton, 345. 

Chapin, Rev. E. H., 64. 

Chapman, Captain, 229. 

Chapman Hall, 65. 

Chapman, Jonathan, 140. 

Chapman Place, 65. 

Chap])atin, Leon, pulilic-housc of, 384 ; 
entertains Jerome Bonaparte, 384. 

Chardon, Peter, residence of, 371. 

Chardon Street, school-house in, 371. 

Charles!., 10, 11, 50, 5.5. 

Charles TL, 33, 34, 51, 53, 83, 174. 

Charles River, 2, 3, 17 ; commanded 
hy North Battery, 177, 203. 

Cliarles Street, 4 ; ropewalks near, 
324 ; opened, 324, 325 ; sea-wall 
huilt, 325, 333, 370 ; trees removed 
from, 409. 

Charleston, S. C, 103. 



Charlestown, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 ; .slaves 
shipped to, 13 ; Ferry, 24, 25 ; 
Portsmouth stage, 26, 57, 65 ; at- 
tack on, 117. 

Charlestown Bi-idge, 5, 7. 

Charlestown Company, 5, 10. 

Charlestown Ferry, 5, 125. 

Charlestown Navy Yard, 1S2, 183, 
186, 194, 195, 322, 327 ; Lafayette's 
visit to, 355. 

Charlestown Neck, 25, 181 ; retreat 
over, 203, 207, 243. 

Charter Street, named, 209 ; residents 
of, 211. 

Chase, Major-General, 355. 

Chase, Thomas, 282. 

Chastellux, Marquis, 19, 24, 61, 85, 
362, 435. 

Cniatham Street, 112. 

Chauncey, Commodore Isaac, 186. 

Chauncy Place named, 381, 382. 

Chauncy Street, First Church removed 
to, 84. 

Checkley, Rev. Samuel, 380. 

Cheever, Ezekiel, 57. 

Chelsea, 14, 24. 

Clierub, frigate, 171. 

Cheverus, Bishop, 255 ; anecdote of, 
256. 

Chicopee, 58. 

Chihl, Lydia M., 167, 168. 

Clioate, Rufus, office, 82 ; anecdotes 
of, 83, 219 ; portrait of, 141. 

Christ Church, 163, 200 ; history and 
description of, 213, 214, 215," 216 ; 
legends of, 216, 217 ; second Epis- 
copal church, 213 ; steeple blown 
down, 213 ; chimes, 214, 215, 386, 
414. » 

Cliurch, Colonel Benjamin, sword of, 
40, 48. 

Cliurch, Dr. Benjamin, 120, 149 ; on 
the Boston clergy, 161, 229 ; treason 
discovered, 243 ; residence of, 243, 
269, 392, 414. 

Church Green named, 380. 

Cliunli jiews, introduction of, 416. 

Church Sipuire, 84. 

Circulating Library, First, 100. 

Citoyen, French ship, 437. 



INDEX. 



449 



City Excliange, 99. 

City Hall, 7 ; history of, 58, 59 ; Old 
State House iised as, 89. 

City Market, 130. 

City Tavern, 121. 

Civic Feast held in Boston, 110. 

Claghorn, Colonel Geoi'ge, 182, 183. 

Clapboard Street. See Joy Street. 

Clapp, William W., 403. 

Clark, Rev. Jonas, 214. 

Clark, Captain Timo, 284. 

Clark's shipyard, site of, 174, 178. 

Clark's Sipiare. See North Square. 

Clark Street, 19. 

Clark's Wharf, 170. Sec Hancock's. 

Clark, William, residence of, 1(J3. 

Clarke, Benjamin, 283. 

Clarke, John, 55, 363. 

Clarke, Richard, store and residence 
of, 334. Samuel, 59. 

Clay, Henry, 193 ; at Tremont House, 
290. 

Clifton Place, American works near, 
428. 

Clinton, Sir H., 90, 103 ; arrived in 
Boston, 125, 127, 207 ; at coimcil 
of war, 243 ; relieves Howe, 244, 
245, 285, 310 ; occupies Hancock's 
House, 362. 

Clinton Street, Triangular Warehouse 
in, 131. 

Club House, Park Street, builder, 
352 ; Lafayette resides in, 352 ; 
Christopher Gore, Samuel Dexter, 
George Tieknor, and Malbone live in, 
352, 353 ; a Iwarding-house, 353 ; 
becomes Club House, 354. 

Coaches, public and private, first used, 
25 ; number of, in 1798, 25, 26. 

Cobb, General David, 100, 361, .364. 

Cobum, John, residence of, 113. 

Cochituate Lake, 23. 

CockbuiTi, Adndral, 321. 

Cockerel Cliurch. See Second Cliurch. 

Codman's Buildings, 70. 

Codman, John, 196, 389. 

Coiljiiau's Wharf, 129. 

Coffin, Admiral Sir Isaac, 154, 309 ; 
birthplace and sketch of, 405 ; en- 
dows Coflin School, 406. 



Coffin, General John, 154 ; birthplace, 
405. 

Coffin, Captain Hezekiah, 282. 

Coffin, Lieutenant-Colonel, 116. 

Coffin, Nathaniel, 405. 

Coffin, Sir Thomas Aston, 154, 406. 

Coffin School, 406. 

Coffin, William, innkeeper, 105. 

Coffin, William, 386, 406. 

Coggan, John, first shoi)keeper, 88. 

Coibron, William, field of, 305. 

Colburn, Jeremiah, 240. 

Cole Lane (Portland Street), 120, 145. 

Cole's (Samuel) Inn, first in Boston, 
108, 109, 141. 

Cole, Master Samuel, 75. 

Collier, Sir George, 191. 

CoUingwood, Admiral, 116. 

Colman, Rev. Benjamin, 123, 138. 

Colonnade Row, built and named, 316 ; 
residents of, 316, 317 ; called Fayette 
Place, 316, 317. 

Colson, Adam, 282 ; residence of, 306. 

Columbian Centinel, office of, 100, 101. 

Columbia River, named for, 254. 

Comey's Wharf, 182. 

Commercial Coffee House, 105. — See 
Bunch of Grapes, — location of, 287. 

Commercial Street built, 128, 153, 
198. 

Common, The, 3, 4, 10, 17 ; collector's 
boat burnt on, 170, 214, 289 ; extent 
of, 296 ; Granary erected on, 262, 
265, 299 ; Park Street built on, 299 ; 
Almshouse, Workhouse, and Bride- 
well on, 299 ; spinning exhibitions on, 
302 ; history of, 305 ; only three trees 
on, 305 ; the malls planted, 305, 306 ; 
more territory purchased for, 306 ; 
disfigured by camps, 306 ; fences on, 
306, 307 ; called Gentry Field and 
Training Field, 307 ; West Street 
entrance, 313 ; Mason Street the 
east boundaiT, 314 ; hay-scales and 
gun-house on, 322 ; guns parked on, 
in 1812, 322 ; Boylston Street Mall, 
323 ; ropewalks on, 324 ; the lower 
part a marsh, 325 ; tojiography of, 
325 ; troojis embarkeil lor Lexington, 
326; English forces on, 326; mili- 



450 



INDEX. 



tary execution on, 32G ; a permanent 
camp, 327 ; position of British 
"works on, 327, 328 ; an intrenclied 
camp, 328 ; Powder House on, 329 ; 
ponds, 329 ; executions on, 331, 
332, 360 ; duel on, 332 ; British 
liospital and guard-house on, 332 ; 
Beacon Street Mall, 333 ; review by 
Lafayette, 355 ; introduction of Co- 
cliituate water, 357 ; Stamp Act 
repeal, 358, 359 ; review of events 
on, 358 ; music on, 359 ; grazing 
and executions on, discontinue<l, 360 ; 
Washington reviews Continental 
troops on, 432. 

Common Burying-Ground opened, 323; 
uses and traditions of, 323, 324 ; 
British soldiers buried in, 323 ; 
British fortification near, 328. 

Common Street described, 412, 416. 

Commonwealth Avenue, 124, 145 ; 
statue in, 344. 

Conant, Colonel, 214. 

Conduit Street, 127. 

Concert Hall, 70 ; military court in, 
71 ; early use by Masons, 71 ; office 
of Customs Commissioners, 71 ; 
grand ball to Admiral D'Estaing, 
71, 4-30. 

Concord, N. H., ancient Ruraford, 87. 

Congress Hall. See Julien. 

Congress House, location of, 281. 

Congress Street, 37, 234, 264. State 
Street so called, 89 ; United States 
Bank in, 93 ; Exchange Coffee House 
in, 99 ; origin of name, 101 ; made 
land, 109 ; Quaker church and burial- 
ground, 267, 268; the Anthology 
Club, 268 ; part called Atkinson 
Street and Green Lane, 271. 

Congress Sipiare, Custom House in. 
106. 

Conscription Riot, 1863, 223, 224. 

Constellation, frigate, 171, 181. 

Constitution, frigate, 139 ; built, 180 ; 
history and exjiloits, 180 to 196 ; 
keel laid, 181 ; first named officially, 
181 ; designers and mechanics of, 
182 ; figure-head, 183 ; battery, 183 ; 
launch, 183, 184; description of, 



185; rebuilt, 185 ; first cruise, 185, 
186 ; commander, 186 ; escape from 
Briti-sh fleet, 187 ; anecdotes of, 188, 
189 ; named Old Ironsides, 189 ; rel- 
ics of, 192 ; figure-head afJair, 193, 
194, 195, 201 ; her sails made in 
the Granary, 322. 

Constitution Wharf, 191. 

C'onway, General, 140. 

Cooke's Court, 65. 

Cooke, Elisha, house of, 65. 

Cooledge, Thomas, 282. 

Cooley, Azariah, innkeeper, 429. 

Coolidge, Josepli, 196, 283. 

Cooper, J. Fenimore, 165 ; historical 
error, 181. 

Cooper, Rev. Samuel, 123, 124. 

Cooper, Samuel, 9. 

Coojier, Thomas A., 191. 

Cooper, Rev. William, 123. 

Cooper, William, residence of, 72. 

Copley, John S., 4, 52, 67, 73, 122, 
140, 165 ; residence of, 334 ; goes 
abroad, 35 ; dies, 335 ; sale of es- 
tate, 335, 336 ; personal appearaiice, 
336 ; an engraver, 336 ; opinions of 
his works, 336. 

Copley, Richard, 371. 

Copp, Joanna, 205. 

Copp, William, 198, 205. 

Copper Street. See Brighton. 

Copp's Hill, 6, 7, 10, 17, 22, 24, 114 ; 
used to fill Mill Pond, 152, 158, 
176 ; shipyards at, 179 ; descrijition 
of, 198 ; British works on, 199, 202, 
204 ; bombardment from, 207 ; 
place of recreation, 208, 244, 399. 

Copp's Hill Burying-Groimd, 157, 159 ; 
Mather's tomb, 162, 163, 199 ; de- 
scription of, 204, 205 ; inscriptions, 
205, 206. 

Coram, Captain Tliomas, 30. 

Corn Court, United States Court 
House in, 106 ; named, 141. 

Cornish, Catherine, 16. 

Cornish, William, 16. 

Corn Hill. Sec Fort Hill. 

Cornhill (Old), 22, 55, 72 ; origin of 
name, 76 ; first clock placed in, 85 ; 
extent of, 88, 89; Post-Olfice in, 



INDEX. 



451 



104 ; Town Pump in, 118 ; Blue 
Anchor in, 121 ; emblematic signs 
in, 140 ; booksellers in, 338 ; named 
Washington Street, 420. 

Cornhill (New), 42, 75; built and 
called Market Street, 76, 104. 

Cornhill Court, 84. 

Cornhill S(iuare, 84. 

Corn Market 141. 

Cornwallis, Lord, capitulation of, 436. 

Cotting Uriah, 46, 248 ; buried, 296 ; 
builds Mill-Dam, 333 ; residence,365, 
366 ; builds New Cornhill, 76 ; Broad 
Street, 110 ; India Street, 111. 

Cotton Hill, 6, 8, 9, 34, 47 ; Andros's 
house near, 228, 391. 

Cotton, John, 7, 11, 35, 47, 48 ; house, 
50, 51 ; estate, 52, 56, 63, 91, 101, 
412. 

Cotton, manufacture of, begun, 322. 

Couronne, French shi2>, 437. 

Court Avenue, 84. 

Court dress, described, 245, 246. 

Court House, 44 ; new, 57 ; old Coun- 
ty, description of, 59 ; present, 77 ; 
old brick Court House, 78 ; County, 
78 ; Municipal, 78 ; present, built, 
79, 82 ; old State House \ised as, 
90 ; present, 94 ; architect of, 312. 

Court Street, 42, 47, 68, 71, 75 ; Prison 
Lane, 77 ; Queen Street, 77, 79 ; 
headquarters newspaper press, 81, 
82 ; cannon concealed in, 315. 

Coventry Street, 52. 

Cow Lane. .See High Street. 

Crabtree, Mr. , builds Causeway, 151. 

Cradock, George, 42, 56. 

Cradock, Mathew, 47. 

Crafts, Eben, 301. 

Crafts, Colonel Thomas, 221. 

Crane, John, Tea Party, 282 ; injured 
on tea ship, 283 ; plants trees in 
Paddock's Mall, 294, 295 ; residence 
and anecdote of, 412 ; destroys 
Bro^vn's house, 427. 

Crawford, Thomas, 38. 

Crawford, William H., 197. 

Creek Lane, 127, 144 ; named, 145. 

Crescent Place, 373. 

Crocker, Hannah M., 161, 166, 215. 



Crockett, David, 45. 

Cromwell, Oliver, 13, 51, 61, 83. 

Cromwell's Head, 61, 62. 

Crooked Lane, 94. See Wilson's Lane, 

Cross Street, 127 ; destroyed, 154, 158. 

Cross Tavern, 154. 

Crosswell, Rev. Andrew, 64. 

Crown Coftee House, location, 112. 

Crown Point. See Ticonderoga. 

Cumberland, frigate, 185. 

Cummings, G., innkeeper, 398. 

Gushing, Judge, residence of, 337. 

Gushing, Thomas (Lieutenant-Govern- 
or), 57, 136, 180 ; birthplace, 248 ; 
dies, 248 ; burial-place, 248. 

Cushman, Charlotte, 394. 

Custom House, Royal, 42, 76, 94, 156, 
157 ; First United States, 103, 105, 
106 ; figures on, 106 ; in Custom 
House Street, etc., 106; ships built 
on site of, 112 ; present, columns of, 
94, 112, 131 ; State, 142. 

Cutler, Timothy, D. D., first rector of 
Christ Church, residence of, 215. 

Cyane, sloop-of-war, 185. 

Cyane, frigate, 186 ; captured, 191 ; 
"flag of, 193. 



D. 



Dacres", Admiral James R., ancedotes 
of, 99, 100, 189. 

Daille, Rev. Pierre, 64. 

Dale, Captain Richard, 182. 

Dalrymple, Colonel, 347. 

Dalton, Peter Roe, Cashier United 
States Bank, 96. 

Dana, Eilmund T., 38. 

Dana, Richard, 400 ; residence of, 402. 

Darracott, George, 205. 

Darley, Mrs., dehut of, 318. 

Dartmouth, tea ship, 282. 

Dassett's Alley, 79. 

Davenport, Rev. Addington, first rec- 
tor of Trinity. 386, 387. 

Daveni)ort, James, iimkeeper, 108. 

Davenport, Jean Margaret, debut in 
Boston, 378. 

Davenport, John, 35 ; house, 55, 56. 



452 



INDEX. 



Davies Lane, 352. 
Davis, Caleb, 389. 
Davis, Admiral Charles H., Lirthjilace 

and sketcli of, 364. 
Davis, Daniel, residence and sketcli of, 

364. 
Davis, Deacon, 243. 
Davis, Isaac, 345. 
Davis, Isaac P., 273. 
Davis, John, report of codfish ery, 

348. 
Davis, Judge John, 100, 370. 
Davis, Major, 138. 
Dawes, Major Thomas, architect of 

Brattle Street Church, 122, 269 ; 

birthplace, 281 ; fireward, 295, 398. 
Day, Captain James, innkeeper, 286. 
Dean, John Ward, 139. 
Dean, Julia, first ajipearance in Boston, 

378. 
Deane, American frigate, 221. 
Deane, Silas, 251, 310. 
Dearl)orn, General Henry, 100 ; Collec- 
tor of Boston, 10.5, 106 ; residence 

of, 106 ; married, 253, 364, 410. 
Dearborn, H. A. S., 106, 298. 
De Beaumetz, M., 141. 
Decatur, Stephen, 186, 187, 188, 197. 
Dedham Street, 419 ; British works 

near, 426. 
De Genlis, Madame, 141, 142. 
De Joinville, Prince, in Boston, 139, 

140. 
Delano, Mrs., boarding-house of, 362. 
Deliglit, privateer, 171. 
Derby, George H., anecdote of, 291. 
Derby, Richard, 269. 
Derne Street, 351. 
Descriptions by early travellers, 16, 17, 

18, 19. 
Deshon, Moses, 135. 
D'Estaing, Count, in Boston, 71, 91, 

103 ; recejition in Faneuil Hall, 138, 

232, 339 ; anecdote of, 341, 3.56. 
Deux Pouts, Count Christian, 434 ; 

Count William, 434. 
Devonshire Street, 98, 254. 
Dewey, Captain, 194. 
De.xter, Aaron, 269. 
De.xter, Mrs., 120, 307. 



Dexter, Samuel, 114 ; residence and 
sketch of, 353, 354, 370, 414. 

Dibdin, Dr., 336. 

Dickens, Charles, at Tremont House 
290, 293. 

Dickinson, John, Liberty Song of, 252. 

Dickinson, Thomas, 196. 

Dickson, J. A., 256, 257, 318. 

Dike built on the Neck, 420. 

Distilleries in 1722, 18 ; oldest in Bos- 
ton, 406 ; Avery's, 406 ; Ilaskins's, 
406 ; number hi Boston in 1794, 
406 ; Henry Hill, 406. 

Distill-House Square, 151 ; named, 371. 

Ditson, Oliver, and Company, 223. 

Dock Square. 56, 126 ; covered by 
tides, 127, 180 ; old market in, 134 ; 
riot of 1863, 142. 

Dolbier, Edward, 283, 410. 

Done, Joseph, 49. 

Doolittle's Tavem, 154. 

Dorchester annexed, 23, 160. 

Dorchester Artillery, 316. 

Dorchester Heights, 208, 359. 

Dorchester Neck, 23, 425. 

Dorr Rebellion, 106. 

Dorsett's Alley, 79. 

Doty, Colonel, innkeeper, 392. 

Dover Street, shipyard near, 419. 

Dow, Lorenzo, 173. 

Downes, Commodore John, residence 
of. 111, 159. 

Dowse, Thomas, library of, 40. 

Doyle, William M. S.,"41. 

Dnike, Samuel G., 170, 365. 

Dramatic Museum, site of, 404. 

Draper's Alley, 121. 

Draper, John, residence of, 121. 

Dress of the Puritans, 11. 

Dro^\^le, Deacon Shem, 135, 236. 

Dry Dock, Charlestown, opened, 139, 
18.5. 

Dryden, John, 15, 63. 

Dubuque, residence of, 270. 

Duck Manufactory, location and his- 
tory of, 322. 

Du Coudray, M., 86, 328. 

Dudley, Governor Joseph, 31. 

Dudley, Governor Thomas, 225. 

Dutr, Mr., 257. 



INDEX. 



453 



Duke of Argyle, 272. 

Duke of Bolton, 3S4. 

Duniaresn, Philip, residence of, 372, 
38(3. 

Dumas, Count Matliieu, 434. 

Dumnier, Jeremiah, residence of, 102 ; 
birthplace, 103. 

Dummer, Governor William, 40 ; resi- 
dence of, 102, 10.3. 

Dunbar, battle of, prisonei's from, 13. 

Dunlap, William, 335. 

Dunster, Henry, estate of, 84. 

Dunton, .John, 122. 

Duplessis, 147. 

Dupont, Admiral, 364. 

Du Portail, General, 285. 

Durivage, F. A., 104. 

Duvivier, P. S. B., makes die for 
Washington Medal, 432. 

Dyar, Mary, hung, 330. 



E. 



Eagle Theatre, history of, 378. 
Earl's Coffee House, 70, 154. 
East Boston, 14, 23. 
East Boston C-omjiany, 23. 
East Camljridge Bridge, 7. 
Eastern Avenue, l(i8. 
Eastern Military District, 383. 
Eastern Stage House, location of, 154. 
Eastham, 49. 

Eaton, Andierst, innkeeper, 4-30. 
Eayres, Joseph, 282. 
Eckley, Rev. Joseph, buried, 296. 
Edes, Benjamin (and Gill), prints Bos- 
ton Gazette and Country Journal, 

80 ; office, 81 ; Tea Party coiuicil, 

81 ; prints for Provincial Congress, 
81 ; house, 121. 

Edes, Thomas, Governor Hutchinson 

concealed in his house, 166. 
Edict of Nantes, 54. 
Ediuboro' Street, 407. 
Edwards, Jonathan, 72. 
Edwards, Rev. Justin, 220. 
Eleanor, tea ship, 282. 
Election Sermon (Artillery), 138. 
Elgin, Earl of, in Boston, 140. 
Eliot, Andrew, buried, 207. 



Eliot, John, 39, 155 ; residence, 174 ; 
burieil. 207. 

Eliot, Samuel, 50, 196. 

Eliot, Samuel A., 56. 

Eliot School, 65 ; history of, 218 ; 
present school dedicated, 219 ; re- 
bellion of jmpils, 219. 

Eliot Street, 416. 

Elliott, General, 262. 

Elliott, Commodore Jesse D., 186 ; 
affair of figure-head, 194, 195. 

Ellis, Joshua, 165, 207. 

Ellis, Rowland, 165. 

Elm, The Great, 10, 305, 329 ; witch- 
craft executions, 330 ; age and sketch 
of, 330, 331, 334. 

Elm neighborhood, 396. 

Elm Street, 102 ; headquarters of 
stages, 126 ; widened, 145. See 
Wing's Lane. 

Embargo of 1812, 116. 

Emerson, Ralph Waldo, 385. 

Emerson, William, 38, 385. 

Emmons, Commodore G. F., 180, 185. 

Endicott, Governor John, 5, 11, 40 ; 
house, 47, 48, 53, 56, 58 ; portraits 
of, 346, 347. 

Endicott Street, 151. 

England, Church of. 33, 34. 

English High, ami Latin Schools, 390. 

English, Thomas, residence of, 390. 

Enterprise, schooner, 171. 

Episcopalians, 4, 15. 

Erving, Colonel John, 295 ; residence, 
267. 

Erving, Colonel John, Jr., 263 ; resi- 
dence, and funeral of Governor 
Shirley from, 267. 

Essex Coffee House (Salem), 201. 

Essex, frigate, 171. * 

Esse.x Junior, 111. 

Essex Street, 53 ; Boston Lilirary in, 
255, 401, 404 ; residents of, 407, 
410. 

Eustis Street, Roxbury, Shirley man- 
sion in, 2-39. 

Eustis's Wharf, 132. 

Everett, Edward, 6, 45, 50, 123, 124 ; 
School, 219 ; residence, 219, 250, 

Everett, Colonel, 364. 



454 



INDEX. 



Ewer, Charles, projects South Cove 
anil Avon Street improvenieuts, 305, 
411. 

Exchange (j)resent), 83 ; in Old State 
House, 89 ; United States Bank on 
site of, 95, 101, 104 ; in Congress 
Street, 269. 

Exchange Coffee Hoxise, 91 ; history 
and descrijition of, 98, 99 ; Lurnt, 
99, 100 ; banquet to Bainbridge, 
190 ; Willard works on, 311 ; con- 
flagration of, 311 ; diimer to Lafay- 
ette, 355, 403. 

Exchange Street, 56, 96 ; description, 
101. 

Extinguisher, Engine House, 402. 

F. 

Fairbanks, Richard, first Postmaster 
of Boston, 104. 

Faniilists, 51. 

Faneuil, Andrew, 54, 64, 101 ; ware- 
house, 108, 112 ; corner, 114, 115, 
163. 

Faneuil, Benjamin, 30, 112 ; store, 
129, 386 ; funeral of, 390. 

Faneuil Hall Market, 76, 127. See 
Quiucy Market, 130. 

Faneuil Hall, 30, 39, 44, 54, 55 ; 
Lovell's address in, 57 ; used as 
Town House, 59 ; Trumbull exhiliits 
his picture in, 73 ; Knox's portrait, 
86 ; British troops, 89 ; Eagle from 
United States Bank, 95, 102 ; site, 
127 ; a market, 1-30 ; history and 
description of, 133 to 141 ; portraits 
in, 140, 141 ; called Cradle of Lib- 
erty, 133 ; burnt, 135 ; eidarged, 
135 ; grasshopper on, 135, 193 ; Tea 
Party meeting, 229 ; anecdote of, 
249 ; theatre in, 260 ; Dalrym - 
■ pie's regiment quartered in, 303 ; 
Phillips's first antislavery speech 
in, .337 ; lottery authorizeil to re- 
build, 343 ; toast by Lafayette, 355 ; 
anti-Mexican war-meetings, 379, 
403. 

Faneuil, Peter, 30 : estate, 54, 55, 57 : 
warehouse, 112, 129 ; builds Faneuil 



Hall, 134, 135 ; death, 136 ; por- 
trait, 141, 236, 253 ; the Wooi- 
bridge-Pliillips duel, 113, 386 ; at- 
tends Trinity Church, 387. 

Faneuil, Susannah M., 253. 

Farragut, Admiral D. G., 364. 

Farwell, J. E., 267. 

Faust's statue, sign of, 252. 

Fayette Place. Sec Colonnade Row. 

Fayette Street. See South Allen. 

Federal Band, 262. See J. Howard 
Payne. 

Federal Street, 25 ; Theatre, 256 ; fish 
taken in, 264. 

Federal Street Church, 89 ; site and 
description of, 263 ; anecdote of the 
vane, 263 ; Federal Convention held 
in, 263, 264 ; rebuilt, 264. 

Felt, J. B., 423. 

Fenno, John, keeper of the Granary, 
299. 

Ferries, 24 ; Cliarlestown, 202 ; inci- 
dents of, 203. 

Fifth British regiment, 113, 116 ; at 
Bunker Hill, 203. 

Fifty-second British regiment, 177. 

Fifty-ninth British regiment at Bunker 
Hill, 203 ; posted on the Neck, 
425. 

Five Points, l.'i.S. 

Fillmore, Millard, in Boston, 371. 

Finn, Henry J., 257 ; died, 258, 292. 

Fire Dejjartment, origin of, 19, 20 ; 
reforms in, 56. 

Fire engine, first, 19 ; first made in 
Boston, 20. 

Fires of 1654, 1676, 1678, 19 ; of 1825, 
23 ; of 1787, 416. 

First Baptist Church, 150 ; history 
and location, 222 ; organized, 227, 
363. 

First Battalion Marines, British, 177. 

First book printed in Boston, 82. 

First buildings, character of, 9. 

First ChurclC 7, 35, 50, 55, 56 ; second 
location, 84 ; Old Brick, 84, 85 ; first 
site, 91, 102 ; burnt, 113 ; John 
Hull member of, 211, 363 ; estate, 
382, 385 ; removal, 385 ; relics of 
the Old Brick, 3S5. 



INDEX. 



455 



First cloclc set up, 85. 

First Directory published in Boston, 
110. 

First glass-works, location and sketch 
of, 408 ; destroyed, 408. 

First Methodist Church, 172, 173 ; 
accident in, 173. 

First newspaper printed in Boston, 
16. 

First stone hlock, 71. 

First Simday school in New England, 
374. 

First Universalist Church, 172, 173. 

First war vessel built in Boston, 179. 

Fish market, location of, 127. 

Fish Street (North), 20, 153 ; de- 
scription of, 158. 

Fitche, Colonel, 307. 

Flagg Alley (Change Avenue), 105. 

Flags used by Americans, 431. 

Flagstaff Hiil, Old, British works on, 
328. 

Flat Conduit, 127. 

Fleet, Thomas, printing-office of, 234. 

Fleet Street, 161 ; gardens of Gov- 
ernor Hutchinson on, 167 ; named, 
168, 220. 

Fleming, John, 107. See Mein. 

Flounder Lane, 281. 

Flucker, Thomas, residence of, 271 ; 
Lucy, 271. 

Fuller Sarah Margaret (Countess d'Os- 
soli), residence and school of, 312 ; 
shipwreck and death of, 312, 392. 

Fulton Street, 128. 

Forbes, R. B., 161. 

Fore Street, The, 7, 152, 219. 

Forest Hills, General Warren en- 
tombed at, 311. 

Fort Du Quesne, 12,5. 

Fort Field. See Fort Hill. 

Fort George, 168. 

Fort Hill, 6, 7, 17, 115 ; embargo flag 
on, 116, 176 ; shipyards at, 179 ; 
illumination on, 209 ; great fire of, 
1760, 272 ; Revolutionary fort lev- 
elled, 272 ; fortified, 284 ; garrison 
of, 285 ; works strengthened, 285 ; 
g^uns removed, 285 ; rejoicings on, 
286 ; description of, 287, 288 ; lev- 



elled, 288 ; Stamp Act troubles, 399, 
409 ; hill fortitieil, 424. 

Fort Hill Block, 280. 

Fort Independence, 280. See Castle. 

Fort Lee (N. Y.), incident of, 374. 

Fort Snelling named, 221. 

Fort Washington, incident of, 373. 

Forty-ninth British regiment, part of, 
in Lexington expedition, 304. 

Forty-seventh British regiment, 177, 
229. 

Forty-third British regiment, 177. 

Foster. John, prints first book in Bos- 
ton, 82. 

Foster Street, 200, 211. See C'lark. 

Foster, William, innkeeper, 105. 

Foster, William, residence of, 306, 
313, 404. 

Foster's Wharf. Sec Wlieelwriglit's. 

Foundling Hospital, London, Eng- 
land, 30. 

Fourth Baptist Church, site of, 267. 

Fourth British regiment, part of, in 
Lexington expedition, 304. 

Fourteenth British regiment, quarters 
of, 271 ; on the Connnon, 326. 

Fowle, William B., 145. 

Fowle, Zachariah, printing-office of, 
223. 

Fox, British ship, 220. 

Foxcroft, Thomas, 55. 

Fox Hill levelled, 325, 328. 

Frankland, Sir Charles H., 30, 97 ; 
residence, 162 ; Lady Frankland, 
163, 165 ; description of house, 163, 
164, 165, 236 ; narrow escape of, 421. 

Frankland, Lady, narrow escape of, 421. 

Franklin Avenue (Donsett's Alley), 

79 ; part of Brattle Street, 79. 
Franklin, Benjamin, 57 ; anecdotes of, 
58 ; apprentice in Queen Street, SO ; 
puldishcs Courant, 80 ; his old jiress, 
80, 145 ; birthplace, 146 ; original 
portraits, 147, 162 ; obtains Hutch- 
inson's letters, 166 ; ba])tized, 229, 
249 ; anecdote of, 251 ; born, 252 ; 
Mrs. (Reed), 80. 
Franklin, James, prints Boston Ga- 
zette, 79 ; N. E. Courant, 79 ; forbitl- 
den to print Courant, 80, 103, 104. 



456 



INDEX. 



Franklin, Josias, liis sign and slioji, 
14G, -252. 

Franklin I'lace, 255. 

Franklin School, diaries Sprague at- 
tends, 417. 

Franklin Statue, 57, 58, 337. 

Franklin Street, 9, 39, 75, 227 ; a bog, 
254 ; reclamation of, 254. 

Fraser, Colonel Simon, his regiment on 
Boston t'onimon, 326 ; death and 
Ijurial at Stillwater, 327. 

Frederick, Francis, hanged, 424. 

Freeman, James, 39. 

Freeman Place Chapel, Iniilt on site of 
Governor Phillips's house, 3(52. 

Freemason's Arms, 150. Sec Green 
Dragon Tavern. 

Freemasons' first Lodge in Boston, 
150. 

Freemason's Hall (Tremont Street) 
burnt, 318. 

French and Indian war, 20. 

French army, entry into Boston of, 433 
to 437 ; composition of, 433 ; uni- 
form and baud, 434 ; embarkation, 
437. 

French Artillery, uniform of, de- 
scribed, 43(5. 

French Huguenot Church, 63 ; de- 
scription of, 64 ; occupied by Cath- 
olics, 256. 

Freneau, Philip, lines of, on General 
Gage, 427. 

Free Writing-School, 75. 

Friends of Liberty, resort of, 70. 

Frizell's Sipiare. See North Square. 

Frog Lane. See Boylstou Street. 

Frog Pond, 329. 

Front Street. See Harrison Avenue. 

Frothinghani, Nathaniel, 282. 

Frothingham, Mr., 313, 322. 

Frothingham, Richard, Jr., 116. 

Fuller, Sarah Margaret, 312. 



Gage, General Thomas, 53, 57, 90 ; 
lands at Long Wharf, 115 ; diariot, 
116, 123, 124, 125, 127, 137, 149, 



168, 203, 208, 216, 225, 236; in 
Province House, 242, 243 ; married, 
243 ; resemblance to Samuel Adams, 
243 ; proclamation ridiculed, 244, 
247, 272, 293, 326, 340 ; portrait of, 
348, 369, 426, 427. 

Gallery of Fine Arts, 130. 

Gallows, position of, 423 ; anecdote 
about, 423 ; executions, 424. 

Gamba, Count, 193. 

Gammell, T., 283. 

Garden Court Street, 162, 164. 

Garden Street, 370. 

Gardiner, John, 261. 

Gardner, Gideon, innkeeper, 428. 

Gardner, John S. J., 38, 386. 

Gardner, Eliza G., 340. 

Garrison, William Lloyd, 379. 

Gas first iised in Boston, 22. 

Gates, General Horatio, 66, 73, 103, 
144, 145 ; anecdote of, 232, 310 ; 
commands in Boston, 383 ; anecdote 
of, 383, 429. 

Gay Alley (Brattle Street), 71. 

Gay, John, 1. 

Gay, Timothy, 206. 

Gee, Joshua, shipyard of, 179 ; resi- 
dence, 202, 204. 

Geograi)hical divisions, 10. 

George I., 102. 

George II., 90 ; portrait, 140, 167. 

George III., 58 ; accession last pro- 
claimed in Boston, 90, 167 ; outlaws 
Hancock and Adams, 308, 309. 

George Street. See Hancock. 

George Tavern, Governor Burnet's re- 
cei>tion at, 238. 

George Tavern (St. George), American 
advanced post at, 428 ; burnt, 428 ; 
history of, 428, 429, 430 ; anecdotes 
of, 430. 

Crerry, Elbridge, 70, 201. 

Gerrish, Tlionms, 282. 

Geyer, Frederic, residence of, 389. 

Geyer, Nancy W., 390. 

Gibl)en's shipyard, location of, 419. 

Gibbs, Major Caleb (of Boston), 182. 

Gill, John (Edes and), imprisoned by 
Howe, 81. See Edes. 

Gilman, Arthur, 58. 



INDEX. 



457 



Glasgow, Brilisli frigate, 207, 208. 

Glass manufacture beguu in Massa- 
chusetts, 408. 

Goililanl, Benjanun, 196. 

Goildard, Nathaniel, 196. 

Goffo, General William, 55. 

Gooch, Cajitain, brave deed of, 373. 

Goodrich, Henry, 286. 

Goodwin, Benjamin, yard of, ISO, 201, 
204. 

Goodwin's Wharf, 202. 

Gordon, General Hugh McKay, 154. 

Gore, Governor Christopher, 39, 45, 
72; defends Selfridge, 114, 190, 
269 ; residence described, 279 ; 
sketch of, 279 ; personal appear- 
ance, 280 ; resides in Park Street, 
352, 389. 

G :)re Hall named, 280. 

Gore, Samuel, 72, 282, 314, 408. 

Gorges, Robert, 4. 

Gorham, Mr., residence of, 275. 

Gouch Street named, 373 ; noted for, 
374. 

GouM and Lincoln, bookstor6 of, 402. 

Gould, John, 215. 

Government of Boston, 14. 

Government House. See Province 
House, 246. 

Governor's Alley, 64. 

Governor's Dock, location of, 114. 

Governor's Foot Guards. See Cadets. 

Governor's House. See Province 
House. 

Grafton, Duke of, 140. 

Grand Lodge occupy Old State House, 
91. 

Granary, Constitution's sails made in, 
182 ; the site of, 298 ; description 
and uses of, 299 ; removed, 299. 

Granary Burying-Ground, 54, 76, 204 ; 
Governor Gushing buried in, 248, 
289 ; history of, 296, 297, 298 ; noted 
persons buried in, 296, 297 ; Frank- 
lin cenotaph, 298 ; called South 
Burying-Ground, 298 ; Faneuil tomb, 
296 ; victims of Boston Massacre 
buried in, 297 ; filled with liodies, 
298 ; tombs erected in, 298 ; en- 
larged, 298 ; legends of, 298 ; stone 
20 



wall built, 298, 307, 323 ; Benjamin 
Woodbiidge buried in, 332 ; Gov- 
ernor Eustis buried in, 366. 

Grant, Moses, 206, 282, 314. 

Grant, Ulysses S., 105, 243. 

Graupner's Hall, 394. 

Graves, Admiral Thomas, residence of, 
272. 

Graves, Daniel, 206. 

Gray, Eilward, 273. 

Gray, Harrison, 44, 245, 273 ; pro- 
scribed, 274 ; goes to London, 274. 

Gray, John, 273. 

Gray, Captain E,obert, disco^'erer of 
Columbia River. 

Gray, Thomas, 38. 

Gray, William, 201, 324, 382. 

Gr.iy's Wharf, 201. 

Great Mall, The, 305, 306 ; first trees 
planted in, 306 ; description of, 306 ; 
trees cut down by British, 306 ; in 
cidents of, 310, 360. 

Greeley, Horace, 312. 

Green, Bartholomew, prints News Let- 
ter at, 82 ; residence, 98 ; printhir^- 
office, 392. 

Green Dragon Ta\ern, 64, 148, 143, 
150. 

Green, Joseph, 33, 66 ; residence, 67 ; 
lampoons the Masons, 96 ; residence, 
67, 414. 

Green, Jeremiah, 285. 

Green, John (and Russell) oflice, 70, 81, 

Green Lane (Salem Street), 153, 210. 

Green Lane. See Congress Street. 

Green, Samuel, innkeeper, 176. 

Green Street, 151 ; residents of, 372; 
church, 373. 

Green Store Battery, 425. 

Greene, Albert G., 300. 

Greene, Gardiner, 47 ; residence, 52, 
53 ; President of the United States 
Bank, 94 ; Cojiley's agent, 336, 363, 
389. 

Greene, General Natlirniel, C6, 144, 
282, 310 ; to assault Boston, 359 ; 
commands in Boston, 382, 405. 

Greenleaf's Gardens. Sec Washington 
Gardens. 

Greenleaf, Dr. John, 124. 



458 



INDEX. 



Greenleaf, Stephen, 304 ; residence, 

313, 352. 
Greeiileaf, William, reads Declaration 

of Independence, 91. 
Greenough, Henry, 247. 
Greenough, Richard S., 38, 57, 58, 226. 
Green's Barracks, 271. 
Greenwood, Ethan A., 42. 
Greenwood, Rev. F. W. P., 30. 
Greuze, 147. 
Gridley, Jeremy, 71, 314 ; residence, 

402. 
Gridley, General Richard, at Bunker 

Hill, 208, 426 ; lays out works on 

Neck, 427. 
Griffin, Rev. Edward D., 301. 
Griffin's 'Wliarf, 410. See Liverpool. 
Griggs, Jolni, recollections of Boston 

Neck, 426. 
Grove Street, 370 ; Medical College in, 

377. 
Growth and progress of Boston, 23. 
Gruchy, Captain, 200, 215. 
Guerriere, British frigate, 99, 188, 189, 

190 ; flag of, 193. 
Guiccioli, Countess, 193. 
Gun house, on Copp's Hill, 204 ; in 

Cooper Street, 223 ; attack on, 224 ; 

on Fort Hill, 288. 
Gundiouse in West Street, 314; re- 
moval of guns from, 314 ; history of 

tlie guns Hancock and Adams, 315 ; 

one on the Common, 322 ; removed 

to Pk-asant Street, 322. 
Gmidiouse (Thaclier Street), materials 

of, 375. 
Gunpowder Plot. Sec Pope Day, 149. 



H. 



Ilackett, James H., first appearance 

in Boston, 368. 
Ilagen, P. von, 303. 
Haley, Madam, 52. 
Half-Square Court, 98 ; Custom House 

in, 106. 
Halifax, Lord, 78. 
Halifa.x, N. S.,32; patriots carried to, 

05. 



Hall, Captain James, 282. 

Hallowell, Benjamin, residence of, 
148 ; assaulted, 170, 273, 285. 

Hallowell, Benjamin Carew, 148. 

Hallowell's shipyard, 275, 287. 

Hamilton, Alexander, 296 ; statue of, 
344. 

Hamilton, Colonel, 355. 

Hamilton College, 381. 

Hamilton Place, 39 ; Manufactory 
House in, 301 ; built, 304. 

Hamilton Street, 286. 

Hammock, John, 215. 

Hancock, Ebenezer, 66 ; office and 
residence, 144, 145. 

Hancock, frigate, 220. 

Hancock House, 141. 

Hancock, Governor John, 24, 40, 42, 
43, 44, 49 ; house occupied by Per- 
cy, 53, 57, 69, 71 ; portrait by 
Trumbull, 73, 91, 110 ; gives a bell 
to Brattle Street Church, 122, 123, 
124, 125 ; store, 129, 130; portrait, 
140, 141 ; builds Hancock's Row, 
144 ; Pope Day, 150 ; warehouses, 
170, 176^ 208, 214 ; address on Mas- 
sacre, 228, 233, 248 ; action to sup- 
press theatres, 261 ; gives bell and 
vane to Federal Street Church, 263 ; 
presides over Federal Convention, 
264 ; widow, 264 ; commands Ca- 
dets, 293 ; commission revoked, 
294 ; fireward, 295 ; tomb of, 296 ; 
funeral, 297, 308 ; anecdote of, 309 ; 
house, 338 ; extent of estate, 338, 

339 ; description of mansion, 339, 

340 ; pillaged, 340 ; quarters of 
General Clinton, 340 ; incidents of, 
340, 341, 342 ; anecdotes of, 341 ; dies 
intestate, 341 ; sketch of, 341, 342 ; 
personal appearance, 343, 350 ; in- 
troduces music on Common, 359, 
393 ; dinner to Rocliambeau's ofli- 
cei'S, 437. 

Hancock, John (son of Ebenezer), 

349. 
Hancock, Lydia, residence of, 76 ; gives 

ln'r mansion to Governor John, 338, 

342. 
Hancock, Madam, anecdote of, 341. 



INDEX. 



459 



Hancock mansion, history of, 338 to 

3i3 ; efforts to preserve, it, 341, 342 ; 

demolished, 342 ; Stamp Act repeal, 

359, 362. 
Hancock's Row built, 144. 
Hancock School, 155. 
Hancock Street, named, 352 ; called 

George Street, 352. 
Hancock, Thomas, 76, 130, 163 ; his 

wharf, 170 ; funeral, 208 ; builds 

house on Beacon Street, 338, 342, 

351. 
Hancock's Wliarf, description of, 170 ; 

events at, 170, 171 ; Lafayette lands 

at, 356. 
Handel, 32. 
Handel and Haydn Society, sketch of, 

394 ; occupy Boylston Hall, 403. 
Hanover Avenue, 172. 
Hanover Church. See Beecher's 

Church. 
Hanover, Massachusetts, anchors of 

frigate Constitution made at, 182. 
Hanover Square, 396. 
Hanover Street, 10, 19, 25, 68, 70, 75, 

130, 143, 144 ; widened, 145 ; Frank- 
lin's birthplace, 146 ; widened, 147 ; 

bridged, 152 ; a neck, 152, 161 ; 

Governor Hutcliinsou's gardens, 167, 

172, 173. 
Hanover Street Church (Methodist), 

415. 
Harper, Mr., 256. 
Harris, Isaac, 182 ; hoists flag over 

Constitution, 185 ; saves Old South, 

233. 
Harris, Lord George, 203. 
Harris, Master, residence of, 161. 
Harris, Rev. Thaddeus M., anecdote of, 

413. 
Harris Street, 175. 

Harrison Avenue, origin and descrip- 
tion of, 404, 405. 
Harrison, John, first rope-maker, 273 ; 

ropewalks, 273. 
Harrison, Joseph, Collector in 1770, 

97 ; assaulted, 168 ; Richard Ack- 

lom, 170. 
Harrison, Peter, 29. 
Harrison, General V/. H. , 45. 



Harris's Folly, 281. 

Hart, Zephaniah, 180. 

Hartionl tJonvention, 44, 295. 

Hartly, Mr., 182, 197. 

Hartt, Edward, ISO. 

Hartt, Edmund, 180; residence, 181, 
196 ; buried, 206. 

Hartt's Naval Yard, 181, 183, 195, 196, 
197. 

Hartt, Ralph, 180. 

Harvard College, 33, 84; Runiford 
Professorship, 87, 103, 160 ; Gore 
Hall named, 280. 

Harvard Place, 270. 

Haskell, S., innkeeper, 398. 

Hatch, Israel, imikceper, 96 ; adver- 
tisement, 399. 

Hatch, Mrs., 307. 

Hatch's Tavern, location of, 313. 

Hatters' Square, 145. 

Haverhill Street, 378. 

Hawkins's Shipyard, 175. 

Hawkins Street, 371. 

Hawkins, Thomas, 175; shipyard, 178. 

Hawthorne, Nathaniel, descrijjtion of 
Old Prison, 77 ; invocation to Town 
Pump, 84 ; Scarlet Letter, 92 ; Le- 
gends of Province House, 235. 

Hay, Theodocia, 206. 

Haymarket, The, 313, 322. 

Haymarket Square, 151. 

Haj-market Theatre, .site of, 313, 317 ; 
opening and description of, 318. 

Hayne, Robert Young, 45. 

Hays, Catherine, 293. 

Hay-scales. See Hajmiarket. 

Hayward, Dr. Lemuel, residence of. 
392. 

Hayward, Jolm, Postmaster of Boston, 
104. 

Hayward Place named, 393. 

Healey, G. P. A., 140. 

Heart and Crowm, 146, 234. 

Heath, General William, 40, 144, 14.5, 
231, 267 ; commands in Boston, 383 ; 
headquarters, 383. 

Henchman, Captain Daniel, 200 ; ac- 
credited with planting the Great Elm, 
331. 

Henchman, Colonel Daniel, residenco 



460 



INDEX. 



of, 76 ; buikls first paper-mill, 76 ; 
store, 85, 137. 

Henchman's Lane, 199, 200. 

Heicule, French ship, 437. 

Hermione, French frigate, 356. 

Hewes, George R. T., residence of, 269 ; 
Tea Party 282, 283. 

Hewes, Shiibael, butcher-shop of, 270. 

Hibbins, Anne, 53 ; e.xeeuted, 330. 

Hibbins, William, 53. 

Hichborn, Benjamin, residence and 
sketch of, 250 ; conimauds Cadets, 
294. 

Higginson, Francis, portrait of, 346. 

Higginson, Stephen, 196. 

Higginson, Stephen, Jr., 196. 

High Street, 37, 46, 272 ; called Cow 
Lane, 273 ; affray in, 274 ; described, 
280. 

Hill, Aaron, Postmaster, 269. 

Hill, Thomas, 406. 

Hillier's Lane (Brattle Street), 71. 

Hillsborough, Lord, 249, 398. 

Hills Wharf, 127. 

Hinckley, David, residence of, 362 ; tra- 
gic incident connected with, 363. 

Historic Genealogical Society, 364 ; 
origin and sketch of, 365 ; building 
and library, -365. 

Historical Society, Massachusetts, 39, 
40, 141 ; relics of Hutchinson in, 
167 ; of Province House, 247 ; in 
Franklin Street, 255 ; Speaker's Desk 
and Winslow's chair, 347. 

Hodgkinson, Mr., 256. 

Hodson, Thomas, 351, 3,52. 

Holbrook, Abraham, 314. 

Holland's Coffee House, 50. 

Holley, Rev. Horace, 415. 

Hollis Street, British works near, 328, 
411 ; originally called Harvard, 414 ; 
great fire in, 416. 

Hollis Street Church, 102, 103. 

Hollis Street Church, history of, 414, 
415, 416 ; Stamp Act celebration, 
414; burnt, 414; removed to Brain- 
tree, 415 ; tablets in, 416 ; fire of 
1787, 416 ; troops quartered in, 416. 

Hollis, Thomas, Hollis Street named 
for, 414. 



Holmes, Francis, innkeeper, 105. 
Holmes, Dr. 0. W., 65, 192. See Hub 

of the Universe. 
Holy Cross Cathedral, site and sketch 

of, 255, 256 ; removal, 256. 
Holyoke, Edward A., 39 ; residence, 

159. 
Holyoke Street, See Tremont. 
Home of Little Wanderei's, 222. 
Homer, B.' P. , residence of, 338. 
Hood, Lord, 310. 
Hood, Thomas, 94. 
Hooper, Rev. William, 374. 
Hooten, John, 283. 
Hopkinton, Sir Charles Frankland's 

estate at, 162. 
Horn Lane. See Bath Street. 
Horse Pond, 329. 
Horticultural Building, 294. 
Horticultural Hall, 42 ; statues on, 344. 
Hospital Life Insurance Company 

founded, 317, 377. 
Hotel Boylston, site of J. Q. Adams's 

residence, 319. 
Hotel Pelham, 313. 
Houchin's Corner, 70. 
House of Correction, site of, 299 ; in 

Leverett Street, 375 ; at South Eos- 
ton, 375. 
House of Industry, 376. 
Hovev and Companv, 389. 
How,' Ed ward C, 282. 
Howard, Captain Anthony, 25. 
Howard Athenaeum, 40 ; site, 366. See 

Millerite Tabernacle ; opening, 368 ; 

burnt, 368 ; rebuilt and sketch of, 

368. 
Howard, John, 48. 
Howard, S., 283. 
Howard, Simeon. 374. 
Howard Street, 47 ; (Southack's Court), 

48, 49. 
Howe, Lord George, monument erected 

to, 241. 
Howe, Sir W^illiam, 65, 69 ; at Bunker 

Hill, 70. 86, 90 ; arrival in Boston, 

12.5, 127, 136, 160, 177, 207, 208, 225 ; 

residence, 236 ; at council of war, 

243 ; sketch of, 244 ; address before 

battle of Bmiker Hill, 245, 246 j 



INDEX. 



461 



quarters of, 271, 373 ; stops destruc- 
tion of trees ou Common, 306, 382, 
432. 

Hub of tlie Universe, Dr. Holmes ori- 
ginates tlie saying, 344. 

Hubbard, Deacon, 231. 

Hubbard, Tliomas, residence, 389. 

Hubbard, Tuthill, Postmaster of Bos- 
ton, 104. 

Hudson, Francis, 202. 

Hudson's Point, 5 ; (Mylue Point), 
24 ; uamed, 202. 

Hull, 116. 

Hull, General, Lafayette visits, 364. 

Hull, Hannah, 204 ; anecdote of, 
212. 

Hull, Commodore Isaac, at Exchange 
Cofl'ee House, 99 ; anecdotes of, 99, 
100, 139, 185, 186, 188, 189, 190, 
192, 194, 197^ 290. 

Hull, John, 51, -52, 204, 211 ; estab- 
lishes mint, 212 ; supposed residence 
of, 296. 

Hull Street, 204 ; uamed, 211. 

Humphries, General David, 100, .364. 

Humphries, Mrs. General, I'esidence 
of, 364. 

Humpiiries, Joshua, designs frigate 
Constitution, 182, 192. 

Hunnewell, Jonathan, 2S3. 

Hunnewell, Richard, 283. 

Hunnewell, Richard, Jr., 283. 

Hunt, William M., 141. 

Huntington, General, .364. 

Hurd, Mr., assists in planting trees of 
Great Mall, .306. William, 283. 

Ilurdley, William, 282. 

Hutchin.sou, Anne, 51, 62 ; trial and 
l)anishment of, 63, 226. 

Hutchinson, Edward, residence of, 
171, 200. 

Hutchinson Street. See Pearl Street. 

Hutchinson, Thomas (Elder), 163, 164; 
residence of, 168, 175 ; buried, 207 ; 
gives land for school-house, 219. 

Hutchinson, Governor Thomas, 31, 40, 
63, 90, 102, 122, 12.5, 1.58 ; residence 
of, 166 ; sacked, 166 ; description, 
167 ; sails for England, 167 ; house 
built, 168 ; succeeds Spencer Phijjs, 



211, 223, 2-30, 2.33, 236, 240, 241, 
267, 271, 278, 293, 308, 347, 399. 413. 



Tasigi, Mr., 344. 

Inches, Henderson, 125 ; ropewalks 

of, 329. 
Independent Cadets, march to Rhode 

Island, 250 ; (piarters and sketcli of, 

293 ; tlisbanded, 294 ; reorganized, 

294 ; escort Lafayette, 355. 
Independent Chronicle, enterprise of, 

433. 
India Street, 109, 110 ; built. 111. 
India Wharf, 111. 
Indians, Eastern, 8. 
Indian Hill, West Newbury, 247. 
Ingersoll, Jo.sepli, innkeeper, 42, 105, 

122. 
Ingollson, Daniel, 283. 
Insurance Otlice, first, 107. 
Ipswich, 57. 
Irving, Mr., 170. 
Island of Eostou, 152. 



Jackson, Andrew, 95 ; visits Boston, 
139, 183, 18.5,192, 19-3, 194 ; head of, 
195 ; at Tremont House, 290, 373. 

Jackson, Judge Charles, 100. 

Jackson, Dr., residence of, 365. 

Jackson, General Henry, 182 ; anec- 
dote of his regiment, 4.30. 

Jackson, James, 38, 61. 

Jackson, Hon. Jonathan, 4.3. 

Jacobs, Mr., 322. 

Januiica Pond, 23. 

James I., 50. 

James II., 34, 237. 

Jarvis, Leonard, 293. 

Jarvis, Rev. Sanuiel F., 811. 

Jason, American shi]), 220. 

Java, frigate, 190. 

Jeflerson, Thomas, 126 ; his embargo, 
279 ; opinion of Samuel Adams, 
308, 319. 

Jefl'rey (and Russell) purchase North 
Battery, 177. 



4G2 



INDEX. 



Jeffrey, Patriek, estate of, 25 ; ScoUay's 
BuiMiiig erected by, 75, 70. 

Jeffrey's Wharf, 177. Sec North Bat- 
tery. 

Jeffries, Dr. Jolui, reeorjni/.es War- 
ren's body, (i9 ; buried, 29(J, 3G3. 

JekvU, Jolui, 50. 

Jenks, Rev. William, 57, 219 ; his 
church and residence, 873. 

Jenkins, Robert, 215. 

Johnson, Lady Arabella, 35. 

Johnson, Edward, 3 ; description of 
Boston, 17. 

Johnson Hall, 59. 

Johnson, Isaac, 10 ; his location, 35, 
52, 59, 234. 

Johnson, Samuel, 193. 

Joliffe's Lane. >Sce Devonshire Street. 

Jones, Inigo, 369. 

Jones, Commodore Jacob, 186, 193. 

Jones, John Coffin, 121 ; residence of, 
148, 253, 389. 

Jones, John Paul, sails from Boston in 
French fleet, 437. 

Jones, Margaret, hung, 320. 

Jones, Mrs., 256. 

Jones, Thomas Kilby, Morton Place 
named for, 253. 

Jonson, Ben, 61. 

Jossleyn, John, 17, 21. 

Joy, Benjamin, 196, 385. 

Joy, Dr. Jolm, 333 ; shop and resi- 
dence, 338. 

Joy Street, 338. 

Joy's Buildings, corner Congress and 
Water, 37, 109 ; Washington Street, 
84. 

Julien Hall, 277. 

Julien House (" Eestorator "), site and 
sketch of, 270, 271. 

Julien, Jean Baptiste, residence of, 
270 ; dies, 271 ; widow succeeds 
hira, 271. 

Junon, British fi'igate, 191. 



K. 

Kean, Charles, 258. 

Kean, Edmund, first plays in Boston, 



257 ; second visit and riot, 257 ; anec- 
dote of, 258. 

Keayne, Captain Robert, 58 ; house, 
88, 137, 300. 

Keith, Colonel, 383. 

Keith, Lieutenant Robert, 221. 

Kendrick, Captain John, 254. 

Kennedy, Timothy, murdered, 424. 

Kent, Benjamin, 269. 

Kent, Duke of, in Boston, 390. 

Kemble, Thomas, 13, 162. 

Evidd, William, imprisoned in Boston 
Jail, 77 ; piracies, arrest and execu- 
tion, 77, 78. 

Kill)y, Christopher, residence of, 272 ; 
Kilby Street named for, 272. 

Kilby Street, 23, 41, 105 ; description 
of, 109 ; Stamp Office in, 110 ; named, 
272 ; filled, 288. 

Kind:iall, Moses, 42. 

King Philip, 40 ; Philip's War, 5, 83, 
331. 

King, Rufus, 82, 269. 

King, Thomas Starr, sketch of, 415. 

Kingman, Edward, innkeeper, 392. 

King's Arms. See George Tavern. 

King's Chapel, 28, 29 ; architect of, 
29 ; history of, 30 ; description of 
Old Chapel, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35 ; tombs 
under, 36, 46, 56, 61 ; Warren's re- 
mains dejiosited in, 69, 163 ; Gov- 
ernor Burnet attends, 239 ; Governor 
Shirley buried under, 267 ; over- 
crowded, 385 ; roval gifts to, 386, 
394, 416. 

King's Chapel Burying-Ground, 32, 
35 ; legends of, 36 ; interments 
cease in, 36, 37, 204, 205, 206 ; Gov- 
ernor Winthrop buried in, 226, 228 ; 
filled with bodies, 298 ; tombs erected 
in, 298, 323. 

King's Head Tavern, site of, 168. 

King Street, 55, 60-; Andrew Fanenil's 
warehouse, 64 ; changed to State, 
89 ; called Congre s," 89 ; full of 
dwellings, 98 ; lower end in 1708, 
108 ; great tide of 1723, 109 ; Gov- 
ernor Shirley resident in, 239. 

Kinnison, David, 283. 

Kirk, Edward N., 50. 



INDEX. 



463 



Kirk, Thomas, 170. 

Kirkland, Joliu T., 38, 100 ; residence, 
3S1. 

Kirkland, Samuel, 381. 

Knapp, Josiali, dwelling of, 419. 

Kneeland, Samuel, printing-office of, 
79 ; prints Boston Gazette, 79, 80. 

Kneeland Street occupied by a wharf, 
419. 

Knight, Sarah, 162. 

Knox, General Henry, shop of, 85 ; 
anecdotes of, 85, 86 ; portrait, 141, 
158 ; marries, 271 ; estate at Thomas- 
ton, 272, 281, 315 ; occupies Coj^ley's 
house, 336. 

Kupfer, Charles F., 408. 



Laboratory, British, on Griffin's 
Wharf, 284; American, 322; an- 
other, 322. 

Labouchicre visits Boston, 341, 367. 

Lafayette, G. W., resides in Boston, 
278. 

Lafayette Hotel, 398. 

Lafayette, Marquis de, 45 ; anecdote 
of, 97 ; in Boston, 105, 124 ; at 
Faneuil Hall, 138, 139 ; at Boston 
Theatre, 259, 265, 278; streets 
named for, 316, 341 ; reception in 
1824, 345, 346 ; in 1825, 346 ; resi- 
dence in 1824, 352, 396 ; fire of 
1787, 416 ; incidents of his recep- 
tion, 354, 355 ; anecdotes of, 355, 
356, 357, 363, 364, 382. 

Lamb, Charles, 128. 

Lambert, Captain, 190. 

Lamb Tavern, site and history of, 
392. 

Lameth, Alexander de, 433. 

La Nymphe, British frigate, 191. 

La Rochelle, 54. 

Lathrop, Rev. John, IGO ; residence, 
168 ; buried, 296. 

Latin School (South), 33, 44, 54, 56, 
57, 72, 75, 136 ; Franklin goes to, 
146. 

Latin School Street, 56. 



Laml, Archbishop, .50. 

Lauzun, Duke de, cavalry of, descrip- 
tion of, 435 ; incident of his execu- 
tion, 436 ; legion of, 435. 

Lavoisier, 87. 

Lawrence, 121. 

Lawrence, Abbott, 46, 120, 121, 322 ; 
residence, 357. 

Lawrence, Amos, shop of, 120 ; resi- 
dence, 316. 

Lawrence Scientific School, 121. 

Laws, curious old, 12, 15. 

Learned, Colonel Ebenezer, first to en- 
ter Boston after the evacuation, 432. 

Leather Street, 280. 

Le Berceau, frigate, 196, 197. 

Lechmere's Point, 25. 

Lee, American schooner, 220. 

Lee, Arthur, 252. 

Lee, General Charles, 125, 425. 

Lee, Joseph, 282. 

Lee, Thomas, residence of, 173. 

Lee, William, entertains Talleyrand, 
141. 

Le Kain, Mrs., residence of, 275. 

Le Mercier Andre, 64. 

Leonard, Mr., opens National Theatre, 
378. 

Les Deux Anges, 196. 

Levant, frigate, 186 ; captured, 191 ; 
flag of, 193. 

Levasseur, M., 356. 

Leverett, Governor John, 82 ; resi- 
dence, 83, 102, 156, 174 ; portrait 
of, 346. 

Leverett's Lane, 101 ; John F. Wil- 
liams resides in, 264. See Congress 
Street. 

Leverett Street, 151 ; Almshouse re- 
moved to, 300, 370 ; jail in, 374. 

Leverett Street Jail, debtors confined 
in, 375 ; execiitions in, 375. 

Leverett, Elder Thomas, 101 ; owned 
site of exchange, 101. 

Lewis, Samuel S. , 128. 

Lexington, 44, .53 ; battle of, 137. 

Lexington expedition planned, 242 ; 
thwarted, 243. 

Ley, Lord, in Boston, 109. 

Lii)erty Hall, 397, 39S. 



464 



INDEX. 



Liljerty slooji (Hancock's), seizure of, 

170. 
Liberty Scjuare, 109 ; maile ground, 
109; Stamp Office in, 110; named 

for and celebration of Civic Feast in, 

110 ; burnt over, 272. 
Liberty Tree planted, 331 ; arch 

erected on site of, 351 ; Stamp Act 

repeal, 359. 
Liberty Tree, site of, 396 ; planted, 

397 ; cut down, 397 ; effigies hung 

on, 399 ; events under, ^399, 400, 

401 ; Liberty stump and pole, 398. 
Liberty Tree Tavern, 398. 
Light Infantry Com2:)any, 294. 
Lighthouse (tavern), The, 26. 
Lighting the streets, 22. 
Lincoln, Abraham, 141. 
Lincoln, Earl of, 35. 
Lincoln, Enocli, 388. 
Lincoln, General Benjamin, first 

United States Collector of Boston, 
. 103, 105 ; expedition to Nantasket, 

116 ; commands troops in Sliays's 

Rebellion, 361. 
Lincoln, Governor Levi, 346. 
Lincoln, Levi, Sr., 388 ; Levi, the 

younger, 388. 
Lincoln, Martha, incident of her de- 
cease, 388. 
Lincolnshire, England, G. 
Lind, Jenny, 40, 293, 371, 394. 
Lindall Street, 267. 
Lindel's Row, Mrs. Pelliam's shop, 372. 
L'Insurgente, frigate, 171. 
Linzee, Captain, sword of, 40, 334. 
Lion Tavern, site and history of, 394. 
Lion Theatre, opening and sketch of, 

394. 
Lisbon, earthquake at, 162, 163. 
Little, CaiJtain George, 196 ; court- 

martialled, 197. 
Little Wild Street, London, 58. 
Little, William, residence of, 168. 
Livingstone, Robert, assists in fitting 

out Captain Kidd, 77, 78. 
Livuigstone, Robert, 193. 
Liverpool Wharf, 230 ; the Tea Party, 

281 ; barracks and laboratory on, 

284. 



Lloyd, Dr. James, residence of, 363. 

Lloyd, James, residence of, 363 ; en- 
tertains Lafayette, 363. 

Lloyd, Mrs. James, residence of, 
355. 

London Bookstore, 107. 

London Packet, 170. 

London Stone, 144. 

Long Acre. >See Tremont Street. 

Long Island, 116. 

Long Island (New York,) seai'ch on, 
for Kidd's treasure, 78. 

Long Wharf, incident of, 100, 112 ; 
history of, 114, 115 ; events con- 
nected with, 11.5, 116 ; embarkation 
of British troops from, 116, 117, 
327 ; first locomotive landed from 
England, 411. 

Lord Ashburtou. See. Alexander Bar- 
ing. 

Lord, James, Collector of Boston, 
142. 

Loring, James S., 65, 314. 

Loring, Matthew, 283. 

Lothroji, Rev. Samuel K., 76, 123. 

Loudon, Lord, 310. 

Lonisburg, 115, 137. 

Louisl)ui-g S(piare, statues in, 344. 

Louis Pliilijipe (Due de Chartres), in 
Boston, 100, 101 ; residence of, in 
Boston, 145. 

Louis XVI., 58, 110,145 ; portrait by 
Stuart, 408. 

Lovell, James, 65 ; Collector of Bos- 
ton, 142 ; residence of, 277, 373. 

Lovell, Master John, 44, 57, 65 ; eulo- 
gy on Peter Faneuil, 136, 245. 

Love Lane. Ssc Tileston Street, 218. 

Love, Susannali, 218. 

Low, John, innkeeper, 287. 

Lowell, Rev. Charles, 316. 

Lowell, Francis Cabot, establishes 
cotton factories, 316 ; city of Lowell 
named for, 316. 

Lowell Institute founded, 316. 

Lowell, Judge Jolni, 316. 

Lowell, John, 32 ; residence of, 316 ; 
called " Boston Rebel," 317, 389. 

Lowell, John, Jr., founds Lowell In- 
stitute, 316. 



INDEX. 



4Gi 



Lucas, Sarah, 2(X). 

Ludlow, Charles, 18G. 

Ludlow, Mr., L5. 

Lvniaii, Theodore, Sr., 49, 190, 371, 
389. 

Lyinan, General Tlioodore, 356. 

Lynch, General, 433. 

Lyndhurst, Lord, 52, 53 ; revisits 
Boston, 336. 

Lyude Street, 370. 

Lynn, 25 ; remains of Quakers re- 
moved to, 268. 

Lynn Street, 198 ; ancient areh in, 
'l99, 200 ; origin of, 219. 



M. 

Macdonough, Thomas, 186. 

Macedonian, frigate, 197. 

Mackay, William, 269. 

Mackerel Lane (Kilby Street), 105. 

Mackintosh, Captain, 397, 399. 

Macread}', W. C, first appearance in 
Boston, 259, 394. 

Madison, James, 105. 

Magaw, Robert, 373. 

Magnalia, Mather's, 4. 

Magnifique, French seventy-four, lost 
in Boston harbor, ISO, 437. 

Jlain-guard, British, 90. 

Main Street, 22. 

Malljone, Edward G., residence of, 
353. 

Malcom, Captain Daniel, 207. 

Manley, Captain John, captures by, 
220 ; dies, 220. 

Blann, Horace, statue of, 34.5. 

Manners and customs, 11, 12. 

Jlanulactory House, 39 ; site, 301 ; 
description of, 302, 303, 304 ; excise 
laid on carriages in support of, 302 ; 
attempt to occupy it by troops, 303 ; 
Massachusetts Bank in, 303 ; build- 
ing sold, 303 ; occupied by wounded, 
203, 303, 313. 

Marljlehead, stage to, 26 ; Frankland's 
courtship, 162 ; Constitution chased 
into, 187. I 

Marbury, Rev. Francis, 63. | 

20* 



Margaret Street, 218. 

Marion, Joseph, establishes first insur- 
ance oilice, 107. 

Marion, sloop-of-war, 185. 

Market Dock, 127. See Towni Dock. 

Market Place, first, 89 ; in 1708, 127. 

Market Square, 132. 

Market Street (New Cornhill), built, 
76. 

Marlborough Hotel, 225 ; dinner to 
Lafayette, 364. 

Marlborough, John, Duke of, street 
named lor, 225, 237. 

Marlborough Street named, 225, 235 ; 
new location of, 271, 385 ; named 
Washington Street, 420. 

Marquis of Lome, 272. 

Marston, Cajituin John, innkeeper, 
105. 

Marshall, John, Chief Justice, 38. 

Marshall Street, 143. 

Marshall, Thomas, 24, 202. 

Marshall Wyzeman opens Eagle Thea- 
tre, 378 ; opens theatre in Boylston 
Hall, 404. 

Marshfield, 46. 

Martin, Mr., 283. 

Martin, Mrs., 389. 

Mascarene, Jean Paul, 60. 

Mason, Jonathan, 335. 

Mason, Jonathan, Jr., 389. 

Mason, Lowell, 259. See Odeon. 

Mason Street, Hatch's Tavern in, 313 ; 
South Writing-School in, 314 ; Med- 
ical College in, 317 ; boundary of 
Common, 296. 

Masonic Temide (old), description of, 
312 ; Alcott's school, 312. 

Masonic Temple (new), 318, 319. 

Massachusetts Bank, site of British 
Coffee House, 108 ; first location, 
303. 
Massachusetts cent, description and 

history of, 423. 
Massachusetts Charitable Fire Society, 

266. 
Massachusetts Company, 47. 
Massachusetts Constitutional Conven- 
tion, 45. 
Massachusetts Frigate built, 179. 
DD 



4G6 



INDEX. 



Massacluisetts General Hospital, in- 
corporated and endowed, 247, 317 ; 
site and history of, 376, 377 ; etlier 
first used in, 376. 

Massachusetts Historical Society, 5. 

Massachusetts Hospital Life Insurance 
Company, 384. 

Massachusetts Indians, 2, 8. 

Massachusetts Medical College in Ma- 
sou Street, description, 317 ; in Grove 
Street, 376 ; Parkman murder, 378. 

Massachusetts Mechanics' CHiaritable 
Association, first meetings of, 71, 120, 
147 ; early meetings, 149, 181 ; build 
Eevere House, 371. 

Mas.sacluisetts Spy jirinted, 223 ; re- 
moved to Worcester, 223 ; different 
locations of, 391 ; enterprise of, 433. 

Massachusetts Volunteers (Mexican 
war), entry of, into Boston, 333. 

Mather, Cotton, 4, 8, 57, KIO ; res- 
idence of, 161, 162 ; portrait of, 
372. 

Matlier, Hannah. See Crocker, 17.5. 

Mather, Rev. Increase, 65, SO, 160 ; res- 
idence, 161 ; house burnt, 169 ; 
agent, 210, 391. 

Matlier, Rev. Richard, 160, 412. 

Mather, Samuel, 160 ; residence, 161, 
162 ; protects Governor Hutclunson, 
166 ; pastor of First Uuiversalist 
Cliurch, 172. 

Matignon, Rev. Father, 255. 

Mutliews' Block, 175. 

Matoonas, shot, 331. 

Mattliews, Charles, 403. 

Matthews Street, 280. 

Maverick Church, 416. 

Maverick, Samuel, 13, 174. 

May, John, residence of, 171. 

Mayliew, Rev. Jonathan, 118, 374. 

Maynard, J. E., stables of, 371. 

Mcintosh, Mr., 283. 

McLean Asylum, 377. 

McLean, Jolni, residence, 307 ; anec- 
dote of, 31)7 ; bequest to Hospital, 
377. 

IMcLean Street, 376. 

IMcLellan, Mr.. 364. 

Mc.Alurtie, Mr. 276. 



McNeil, Captain, 196. 

Mears, Samuel, innkeeper, 286, 428. 

Medal voted to Wasliington, 432. 

Mein, John, establishes first circulat- 
ing library, 106 ; shop, 197. 

Melodeon, sketch of, 394. 

Melvill, Thomas, Tea Party, 282; 
preserves small bottle of the tea, 
283 ; residence and sketch of, 372, 
373, 406. 

Melville, Herman, 372. 

Melyne's Corner, 289. 

Mercantile Library, 278. 

Mercer, Captain George, 62. 

Merchants' Bank, 94. Sec United 
States Bank. 

Merchants' Exchange, present, corner- 
stone laid, 278. 

Merchants' Hall, site and use of, as 
Post-Office and E.xchange, 269. 

Merchants' Row, named, 108 ; first 
liouse of entertainment in, 108, 109, 
110, 112 ; Triangular Warehouse in, 
131. 

Meriam, William, innkeeper, 287. 

Merry's Point, 176. 

Merry, Walter, his point, 176. 

Jlessiuger, Colonel, 139 ; shop, 393, 
394. 

Methodist Alley. See Hanover Avenue, 
173. 

Metropolitan Place, 419. 

Metternich, Prince, 321. 

Mexican war, 333. 

Mexican Volunteers, quarters of, 379 ; 
neglect and abuse of, 379 ; their 
flag, 379. 

Miantonimoh in Boston, 108. 

Middle Street (Hanover), 153. 

Middlecott Street, 370. See Bowdoin. 

Middlesex Canal, 24, 152. 

Milllin, Thomas, 116, 220, 429. 

Miles, Mrs., Governor Eustis lodges 
with, 365. 

Alilitary Company of the Massachu- 
setts. .S'rt' Ancient and Honorable 
Artillery, 137. 

Milk, John, 206. 

Milk, Mrs., 287. 

Milk Street, 10 ; Museum in, 41 : Post- 



INDEX. 



4G7 



Office in, 104, 105 ; inhabitants re- 
moved, 227 ; route of Tea Party, 
230 ; Province House opposite, 235 ; 
ancient Fort Street, description of, 
251, 264 ; notable residents of, 271 ; 
great tire in, 272. 

Mill Bridge, 149, 152. 

Mill Creek, 127, 131, 132 ; bridged, 
151 ; description of, 152 ; a canal, 
152. 

Mill Dam, 25. 

Miller, William, 367. 

Mill Field. See Copp's Hill. 

Mill Pond, 7, 8, 10, 126, 127, 145 ; de- 
scription of, 150, 151, 152 ; filled 
up, 152 ; Baptist Church on, 222 ; 
Beacon Hill used for filling, 350, 
369 ; Theatre on site of, 378. 

Mill Pond Corporation, 151. 

Milmore, Martin, 344. 

Milton, first paper-mill in colony at, 
76. 

Milton Place, 268. 

Minot's Building, 402. 

Minot, George Richards, 39, 264. 

Minot, George, 315 ; anecdote of, 431. 

Minot, John, 431. 

Minot, Stephen, petition of, 430. 

Minot, William, 320 ; office, 402. 

Minot Street, 375. 

Minott, Stephen, 114. See Tea Wliarf, 
115. 

Mint, established by Massachusetts, 
422 ; site of, 423. 

Molesworth, Captain Ponsonby, 97. 
.Molineux, William, 282, 302 ; resi- 
dence and sketch of, 357. 

'Monck, George, innkeeper, 122. 

Monroe, James, visit to Boston of, 100, 
319. 

Montagu, Lady Mary Wortley, 103. 

Montague, W. (Admiral), anecdotes 
of, 75, 283. 

Montague, W. H., 69, .365. 

Montague, Rev. William, 217; the 
bullet which killed Warren, 218 ; 
anecdote of, 414. 

Montgomery Place, 294. 

Monument (Beacon Plill), 349 ; history 
and description of, 3.50, 351 ; inscrip- 



tions, 350, 351 ; rebuilding author- 
ized, 352, 370. 

Moon Street, 159 ; Samuel Mather, 
a resident of, 161, 166 ; Sun Tavern 
in, 287. 

Moore, Peggy, tavern of, 404. 

Moore, Thomas, 283. 

Moorhead, Rev. John, 263. 

Moreau, General, 139 ; funeral of, 
320 ; visit to Boston, 320 ; resi- 
dence, 321 ; returns to Europe, 321 ; 
death, 321. 

Morgan, General Daniel, incident of 
battle of Stillwater, 327. 

Morris, Commodore Charles, 99, 186. 

Morris, Gouvemeur, anecdote of, 429. 

Morrison, Rev. Dr., 124. 

Morse, Jedediah, 8 ; humorous de- 
scription of Albany, 422. 

Morse, S. F. B., 277. 

Morton, Josejih, innkeeper, 393. 

Morton, Marcus, 253. 

Morton, Perez, residence of, 113, 393 ; 
last of the barristers, 403 ; district- 
attorney, 424. 

Morton Place named, 253. 

Morton, Thomas, 2. 

Morton, W. T. G., office where ether 
was first applied, 366 ; curious state- 
ment about the ether discovery, 366. 

Mount Auburn Chajiel, statue of Win- 
tlirop in, 226. 

Mountfort, Col. John, 221. Jos., 283. 

Mountfort's Corner, 158. 

Momit Hoardam. Sec Moimt Ver- 
non. 

Mountjoy's Comer, 158. 

Moimt Vernon proprietors, 4 ; use 
first railway in New England, 325. 

Mount Wollaston, 2, 14. 

Mount Vernon Place, 339. 

Moimt Vernon Street, 338, 340 ; called 
Sumner and Olive Street, 352. 

Mount Vernon, 6 ; called Moimt Hoar-, 
dam, 329. 

Mower, Samuel, 206. 

Muddy River, 14. 

Munroe, W., innkeeper, 248. 

Murdoch, James E., 404. 

Muhleidiurg, General, 356. 



468 



INDEX. 



Murray, General James, 327. 

Murray, Rev. John, 17'i. 

Museum, Boston, 3S, 41), -41, 294 ; Co- 
lumbian, 41 ; burnt, 41, 42 ; New 
England, 42, 74 ; New York, 42 ; 
Mix's New Haven, 42 ; Wood's Mar- 
ket, 132 ; New England, 132. 

Musgrave, Philip, l'o.stniaster of Bos- 
ton, 7'iK 

Music Hall, 294 ; one in Brattle 
Street, 307, 394. 

Musliawomuk, 3. 

Myles Standisli expedition to Boston 
Bay, 2 ; costume, 11 ; sword of, 
40.' 

Mylne Point (Hudson's), 24. 

Mylne Street. See Summer Street. 

Mystic, 8 ; River, 2. 



N. 

Nancy, Britisli ordnance brig, captured, 
220. 

Nantasket Road, Bi'itish Meet in, (3.5, 
75, 115. 

Napoleon Bonaparte, 139, 141 ; Mos- 
cow campaign, 320, .321. 

Napoleon, Louis, in Boston, 101. 

Nason, Elias, 145, 1G2. 

Nassau Street, description of, 412. 

National Lancers, 379. 

National Theatre, history of, 378. 

Naval Academy (Amiapolis), 193 ; 
established, 385. 

Naval Rendezvous, North Sipiare, 
159. 

Neal, Daniel, IG. 

Neck, The, 7, 10, 21, 23, 24, 25, 43, 94, 
214 ; Governor Burnet's reception, 
238, 244 ; catliedral on, 256 ; Earl 
Percy's troops niarcli over, 304 ; lines 
on, 328 ; retreat of the British from, 
416 ; description of, 418, 419 ; early 
condition of, 419 ; road over, 419, 
420 ; paved, 420, 421 ; dikes built to 
protect, 420 ; dreary as])ect of, 421 ; 
a resort for sportsmen, 421 ; fenced 
in, 421 ; bouses on, 421 ; brickyards, 
422 ; guard staticjued on, 424 ; forti- 



fied, 424 ; Britisli works on, 425, 426 ; 
j)artly demolished, 426 ; American 
worlis, 427 ; taverns on, 428, 429, 
430 ; entry of American and Freucli 
armies, 432 to 437. 

Nelson, Horatio, Lord, 186. 

Nej)time, Frencli shi^j, 437. 

Nereide, French .ship, 437. 

Nesbitt, Colonel, 229. 

New Boston, 10. 

Newbury Street, 20 ; new location of, 
291 ; residents of, 391 ; named 
Washington, 420. 

New England Bank, 10.5. 

New England Hag, description of, 179. 

New England Guards, 191 ; in 1812, 
322 ; survivors, 322. 

New England House, 132. 

New England Journal, 8. 

New Exhibition Room (Board Alley), 
opening of, 261 ; bill of first per- 
formance, 261. 

New Fields. See West Boston. 

New Guinea, 199. 

New Haven, 55, 57. 

Newman, Henry, residence of, 291. 

Newman, Captain Samuel, 221. 

New North Cliurcli, 155 ; site and 
sketch of, 173, 416. 

Newport, R. I., 9, 19, 29. 

New South Church, 228 ; site and his- 
tory of, 380, 381. 

News Letter, where published, 82, 104. 

New State House first occupied, 91. 

Newton, Thomas, 32. 

New York, 22. 

Nichols, Colonel Rieliard, 174. 

Nicholson, Captain Samuel, 182, 184, 
186, 187, 221. 

Niles's Block, 60. 

Noah's Ark, 175. See Ship Tavcni. 

Noddle's Island, 13, 14, 23, 56 ; Bap- 
tists meet on. 222 ; works erected in 
1814, 247 ; garrisoned, 322, 418. 

Norfolk County Road, 27. 

Norman, Jolm, publishes first direc- 
tory, 110 ; office, 14.5. 

North Allen Street, 377. 

Noi'tli American Review, first number 
of, 31)4. 



INDEX. 



4G9 



North Battery, 116 ; liistory of, 17C, 
177 ; sold, 177 ; armaiiit^iit, 177. 

North Beunet Street, Methodist Chapel 
in, 172. 

North Biiryiiig-Place. See Copp's 
Hill. 

North Carolina, wliite slavery in, 14. 

North Churcli, 19. 

North End, 10, 19, 25, 26, 27, 68,143 ; 
three streets wide, 152 ; British 
troops in, 158 ; patriotism of and 
famous residents in, 220, 221, 222 ; 
draft riot in, 223. 

North Enil Cotfee House, site of, 171. 

North Grammar Scliools, 21S. 

North Latin School, 218. 

North Latin School Street. See Ben- 
net Street. 

Nortli Margin Street, 150. 

North ftLarket Street, 105 ; Triangular 
Warehouse in, 131. 

North Mills, 151. 

North Row, location of, 371. 

North Square, 130 ; description of, 
156 to 170 ; rendezvous lor tooops, 
158 ; barracks in, 168 ; Bethel 
Church in, 169 ; lire of 1676, 169. 
198. 

North Street, 7, 26, 127; Wood's 
Museum in, 132 ; drawbi'idge at, 152. 

North Street (Hanover), 153. 

Northumberland, Duke of, 407 ; lodg- 
ings in Boston, 410. 

Northumberland, French ship, 437. 

North Writing School, 218. 

Norton, Mrs., 227. 

Noyes, Oliver, builds Long Wharf, 
114. 



O. 



Oak of Reformation, 398. 

Obbatinewat, 2. 

Ochterlony, Sir David, i-esidence of, 
153, 154. 

O'Coimor, Captain, 283. 

Odeon. Sec Boston Theatre, 259. 

Orange Street, 21, 102; extent and 
name, 401 ; description, 420 ; named 
Washington, 420 ; paved, 421. 



Old Brick Church. Sx First Church. 
Orations of the Cincinnati in, 105, 
155 ; Washington attends, 432. 

Old buildings, one corner Sun Court 
and Moon Streets, 159. 

Old Burying-Place (King's Chapel 
Yard), 35, 55, 56. 

Old Cocked Hat in Dock Square, his- 
tory and description of, 132, 133. 

Old Corner (Court and Treniont), Ed- 
ward Websttir's Company enlisted, 
379. 

01<1 Corner Bookstore, 62. 

Old Drury. See Boston Theatre, 256. 

Old Fortifications, 420, 421 ; erected, 
424 ; history of, 424 ; annament, 
424 ; garrison, 425. 

Old Market House, 130, 133. 

Old North Church, location and his- 
tory of, 160 ; burnt, 169 ; Sir Wil- 
liam Phips attends, 210, 218. 

Old Prison. See Boston Jail. 

Old South Block, 253. 

Old South Church, 22, 30 ; keys de- 
manded by Andros, 34, 35, 52, 148, 
182, 213 ; Dr. Blagden resigns pas- 
torate of, 220 ; history and descrip- 
tion of, 227, 228; Lady Andros's 
funeral, 228 ; Warren's Address in, 
229 ; Tea Party Meeting, 230 ; occu- 
pation by British troops, 231, 232, 
329 ; tablet, 228 ; clock, 234, 244, 
282, 348 ; Governor Eustis's funeral, 
366, 392, 416. 

Old State House, 34, 43; used a-s 
Town House, 58, 59 ; history and 
description of, 89, 90, 91 ; Court 
House, 90 ; alterations, 91 ; pro- 
posal to build the United States 
Bank on site of, 94 ; Post-Oflice in, 
105 ; Selfridge killed near, 114 ; first 
market on site of, 1-30 ; rendezvous 
of Ancient and Honorable Artillery, 
138, 210, 238 ; monument to Wolfe, 
241 ; Federal Convention assembled 
in, 263, 293 ; Speaker's desk, 347 ; 
description of Council Chamber, 
347, 391, 4.31. 

Olil Stone House (Cross Street), de- 
scription of, 154, 155. 



470 



INDEX. 



OW Way, The, 151. 

Old Wharf. JSce Barricailo. 

Olive Street. /bV-e Mount Vernon. 

Oliver, Governor Andrew, 2()7, 273 ; 
residence, 278 ; inoljbed, 278 ; dies, 
278 ; sketch of, 278, 279 ; hung in 
etilg}', 399 ; resigns office of Stamp- 
Master, 400. 

Oliver's Doek, 109 ; named for, 110 ; 
scene of destruction of Stanip-Ollice, 

no. 

Oliver, Peter, 110; leaves Boston, 278. 

Oliver Place, 409. 

Oliver Street, 41 ; named, 271 ; paved, 
272 

Oliver, Thomas, residence of, 234. 

Orange Tree Lane, G8. 

Orange Tree (tavern), 25, 70. 

Orne, Azor, 341. 

Osgood, James R. , and Company, 
304. 

Ostinelli, Mr., 291. 

OstJnelli, Eli/.a, (/ebut of, 3G8. 

Otis, Harrison Gray, 14 ; law office, 
44 ; anecdotes of, 46, 47, 57, 124, 
190 ; first public speech, 25(5 ; op- 
poses theatres, 261, 336 ; residence, 
337. 

Otis, James, 44 ; residence, GO, 71, 76, 
89, 13.3, 135, 148, 149, 248, 252, 253, 
269, 351, 402. 

Otis Street, American headquarters, 
383 ; Sir William Pepperell's estate, 
384. 

O.xenbridge, John, 35, 55 ; house, 
56. 

O.xford, Loid, 78. 



P. 

Paddy's Alley, 153. 

Paddock, Adino, 26 ; names Long 
Acre, 289 ; residence, 294 ; plants 
trees in Long Acre, 294 ; Captain of 
Artillery, 295 ; intends surrender- 
ing his guns, 314 ; intention frus- 
1 rated, 31 4. 

Paddock's Mall, hi.story of. 294, 295, 
360. 



Paige, E., and Company, innkeepoi'3 

105. 
Paiue, Nath.aniel, 237. 
Paine, Robert Treat, 57 ; residence, 

265 ; died, 265, 267 ; sketch of, 

266. 
Paine, Thomas (R. Treat, Jr. ), writes 

|)rize address for Federal Street Thea- 
tre, 256 ; sketch of, 266. 
Paiutei-'s Arms, description of, 144. 
Palfrey, Rev. J. G., 123, 355. 
Palmer, Edward, 1.5, 34. Jos., 2S3. 
Palmer, Mr., residence of, 277. 
Pantheon Hall. See Boylston. 
Paper Currency, 237. 
Park Square, 322. 
Park Street, 148, 299 ; Workliouse and 

Bridewell in, 299 ; town property on, 

sold, 300 ; Pound in, 300. 
Park Street Church, 182, 234 ; spire 

of, 300 ; history of, 301 ; architect 

of, 301 ; capitals cut by Willard, 

311. 
Park Theatre (New York), opening of, 

417. 
Parker, Bishop, anecdote of, 414. 
Parker Block site of, 248. 
Parker, Chief Justice, 100. 
Parker House, 57, 65. 
Parker, Isaac, 82. 

Parker, John, 196 ; residence of, 291. 
Parker, Cajitain John, his musket, 

347. 
Parker, Rev. Samuel, 387. 
Parker, Rev. Theodore, bequeaths rel- 
ics to the State, 346, 379, 394. 
Parkman, Dr. George, 165 ; residence, 

338, 371 ; scene of murder, 377. 
Parkman, Samuel, 141, 196 ; residence, 

.371. 
Parris, Alexander, architect of Saint 

Paul's, 310. 
Parsons, Eben, 196. 
Parsons, Theoidiihis, residence of, 277 ; 
anecdote of, 277 ; J. Q. Adams a stu- 
dent with, 319, 403. 
Parsons, Theophilus, Jr., 277. 
Patten, William, malt-house of, 416. 
Patterson, Miss, 384. 
Paving of streets, 21. 



INDEX. 



471 



Pavilion, 56. 

Paxtoii, Cliarlcs, residence of, 273 ; 
mobbed, 273, 277. 

Payne, Jolm Howai'd, 253 ; at Boston 
Theatre, 259 ; residence and sketch 
of, 262 ; dies, 262, 313. 

Payne, Mr., 253. 

Payson, Joseph, 282. 

Peabody, Ephraini, 46. 

Peabody, George, 27. 

Peale, Charles W. , student of Copley, 
353. 

Peale, Remhrandi, 335. 

Pe.arl Street, 37 ; route of Tea Party, 
271 ; Admiral Graves's quarters, 
272 ; called Hutchinson Street, 273 ; 
named, 273 ; shoe market, 280. 

Pearl Street House, 248, 275. 

Peck, John, purchases Provmce Hoiise, 
246. 

Peck, Samuel, 282 ; sliop, 410. 

Pelby, William, 291 ; opens Warren 
Theatre, 378. 

Pelham, Charles, 32. 

Pelham, Mary, residence, 371 ; adver- 
tisement, 372. 

Pelham, Peter, residence, 372 ; an en- 
graver, 372. 

Pelican, British brig, 197. 

Pemberton, Rev. Ebenezer, 104. 

Pemberton Hill, 6, 8, 10, 34, 47, 52, 
365, 389. 

Pemberton House, 50. 

Pemberton, James, 47. 

Pemberton Square, 50, 53. 

Pemberton, Thomas, 134, 154 ; ac- 
count of commerce of Boston, 179, 
180. 

Penfold, 383. 

Peim, James, 56. 

Pennsylvania Academy, 276. 

Penobscot Expedition, 120. 

Pepperell, Sir William, sword of, 40, 
239 ; forces on the Common, 326. 

Pepperell, Sir William (Sparhawk), 
57 ; estate and sketch of, 384. 

Pepys, Richard, 4, 5. 

Percy, Earl of Northumberland, 44 ; 
quarters, 53, 242, 245, 265 ; marches 
for Lexington, 304 ; occupies Han- 



cock House, 340 ; commands on 
Boston Neck, 426. 

Perkins, Augustus T., 336. 

Perkins, James, 37, 196, 280. 

Perkins, Sergeant, 16. 

Perkins, Thomas, residence of, 291. 

Perkins, Thomas H., 38, 196 ; resi- 
dence, 277, 278 ; commands Cadets, 
294. 

Perkins Street named, 280. 

Perley, Rev. Mr., 277. 

Perodi, Mr., suicide of, 363. 

Perry, Commodore 0. H., at Exchange 
Coffee House, 100. 

Pest-House Point, 369. 

Peters, Edward D., residence and re- 
mains of fortifications, 426. 

Peterson hanged, 426. 

Pettiek's Island, 116. 

Pfaffs Hotel, 322. 

Pliiladclidiia Coffee House, 171. See 
North End Coffee House. 

Philadelphia, frigate, 186. 

Phillips, A(lelai(ie, 40. 

Phillips, Edward B., 38. 

Phillips Church, 416. 

Phillips, Deacon John, 154. 

Phillips, General William, 231, 383. 

Phillips, Gillam, 332. 

Phillips, Governor William, 53 ; resi- 
dence, 54, 55, 56, 100, 196, 337, 
362. 

Phillips, Henry, 96, 332, 393. 

Phillips, John, first mayor, 14 ; resi- 
dence, 337. 

Phillips, R., 2.''.S. 

Pliillips, Wendell, residence of, 337, 
379. 

Phillips, William, Sr., 302. 

Phillips's Pasture, 409. 

Phips, Mary, anecdote of, 210. 

Phips Place, 209. 

Phips, Spencer, residence of, 211. See 
David Bennet. 

Phips, Sir William, 200 ; residence, 
209 ; arrival in Boston, 210, 211. 

Pha?be, frigate, 171. 

Pickering, .John, 39. 

Pickering, Timothy, 100. 

Pierce's Alley (Change Avenue), 105. > 



472 



INDEX. 



Pierce, William, shop of, 145, 283. 

Pierpoiit, Rev. Jolin, sketch of, 415. 

Pierpoiit (and Storey), set in pillory, 93. 

Pillinore, Pi-ev. Joseph, 172. 

Pillory, incidents of, 92, 93, 313. 

Pinckney Street, 334. 

Pine Street Church, 220. 

Pitcairn, Major John, quarters of, 158, 
159 ; death and burial, 217. 

Pitt, William, 141. 

Pitts, Hon. James, residence of, 369. 

Pitts, Lendall, one of Tea Party lead- 
ers, 282, 283. 

Pitts Street, Mexican Volunteers in, 
379. 

Pitts Wharf, 127. 

Pleasant Street, 64, 305 ; laboratory 
in, 322 ; British works in, 328. 

Pleiades or Seven Star Imi, site of, 387. 

Plymouth Colony, 2 ; relics of, 347. 

Plymouth, Mass., 2. 

Plymouth Rock, Choate's mot on, 219. 

Poinsett, Joel R., 139, 192. 

Point Alderton, 116, 188. 

Point Judith, named for, 212. 

Polk, James K., 385. 

Pollard, Anne, her landing and deposi- 
tion, 5. 

Pollard, Colonel Benjamin, 11.5. 

Pomeroy, Colonel (British), 285. 

Ponieroy, General Seth, 208. 

Pomeroy, Zadock, 248. 

Pond Lane. See Bedford Street. 

Pond Street. See Bedford. 

Ponsouby, Lord, 97. 

Poor debtors, 375. 

Poore, Benjamin Perley, owner of 
Franklin's press, 80 ; relics of Prov- 
ince House, 247. 

Pii])e, Alexander, .38. 

Pope Day, 107 ; description of, 149, 
150, 167 ; anniversary celebrated, 
399. 

Pojilar Street, 370. 

Population of Boston, 20, 21. 

Pormont, Philemon, 56. 

Porter, David, Sr., residence of, 171. 

Porter, Commodore David, 111 ; res- 
idence of, 171, 186. 

Porter, Admiral David D., 171. 



Porter, Thomas, 282. 

Portland Street, 126, 145. 

Portsmouth, New Hampshire, 45 ; first 
stage-coach to, 26. 

Portsmouth, tiying stage-coach, 26. 

Post-Ottice in Old State House, 89 ; on 
site Brazier's Building, 92 ; in Mer- 
chants' Exchange, 269 ; history and 
locations of, 104 ; corner Congress 
and Water Streets, 104 ; New, 141, 
254 ; in Summer Street, 385. 

Post-routes, first established, 104 ; 
iwst-rider to Hartford, 253. 

Pound, site of, 300. 

Powder, scarcity of, in American camp, 
430, 431. 

Powder-house on the Common, 329 ; 
at West Boston, 329 ; duel near, 332 ; 
on the Copley tract, 334 ; descrip- 
tion of, 334. 

Powder-mill, first in New England, 
118. 

Powell, Charles S., first manager of 
Federal Street Theatre, 256, 257 ; 
fits up a theatre in Hawley Street, 
261 ; opens Haymarket, 318. 

Powell, Jeremiah, 346. 

Powers, Hiram, 38, 345. 

Powers, Michael, hanged, 424. 

Pownall, Governor Thomas, 40, 236, 
240 ; anecdote of, 241, 348. 

Pratt, Benjamin, ofiice and description 
of, 402. ' 

Preble, Ebenezer, residence of, 382. 

Pi-eble, E.lwardE., 195. 

Preble, Commodore Edward, 111, 186, 
187, 211. 

Preble, Captain George H., 179, 184. 

Prentis's, Captain Henry, residence of, 
148, 282. 

Prescott, Colonel William, swonl of, 
40, 208. 

Prescott, Judge William, 277 ; resi- 
dence of, 390. 

Prescott, W. H., 38 ; residence of, 3-33 ; 
blindness, and literary work, 334. 

President's Roads, 187. 

Preston, Captain Thomas, 71, 85 ; do- 
fence, 126, 166, 266; trial, 402. 

Price, Roger, 386. 



INDEX. 



473 



Price, William, 32. 

Prince, Jolin, residence of, 275, 2S3. 

Prince Lil)rary, 234. 

Prince of Orange, 401. 

Prince Street, 151, 153, 162, 202 ; 
named, 219 ; description, 219 ; 
Britisli barracks in, 219. Sec Black 
Horse Lane. 

Prince, Thonias, 52 ; library burned, 
231. 

Prince's Pasture, 376. 

Princess Louise, 272. 

Prison Laiie, 229. 

Proctor, Edward, 2S2. 

Proctor's Lane, 219. See Piiclimond 
Street. 

Proctor's School-house, 223. 

Prospect Hill, 203. 

Protector, frigate, 211. 

Protector, ship, 186. 

Province Hospital, location of, 369. 

Province House, 64, 65, 225, 232 ; his- 
tory and description of, 235 to 248 ; 
location, 235 ; first giibernatorial oc- 
cupant, 236 ; successive inhabitants, 
236 to 245 ; robbery in, 242 ; Lex- 
ington expedition planned in, 242 ; 
divulged by a groom, 243 ; Churcli's 
treason discovered in, 243 ; built, 
246 ; purchased by the colony, 246 ; 
occupied by State officers, 246 ; 
styled Government House, 246 ; 
sold, 246 ; relics of, 247, 293, 431. 

Province Pest-House. Sec Hospital. 

Province Snow, 48. 

Province Street, 64. 

Provincial Congress, 159. 

Public Garden occupied by ropewalks, 
324; a marsh, 325; secured to the 
city, 325 ; Ticknor's bequest, 352. 

Pulilic Library, 313 ; relic in, 323. 

Puihling Lane, 98. 

Pulaski, Count, 264, 310. 

Purchase Street, 87 ; named, 273 ; 
rope-field in, 273 ; liirthplace of 
Samuel Adams, 2S1 ; description of, 
309. 

Purkett, Henry, anecdote of, 264, 2S2, 
410. 

Putnam, Colonel, 364. 



Putnam, General Israel, 69, 129 ; at 
Bunker Hill, 207, 208, 220 ; to as- 
sault Boston, 359 ; commands in 
Boston, 382, 432. 



Q. 

Quakers, 15 ; persecution of, 268 ; 
build first brick meeting - house, 
268. 

Quaker Burying-Ground, site and his- 
tory of, 267, 268 ; remains exhumed, 
2(58. 

Quaker Lane, 101. ,S'ce Congress 
Street. 

Quaker Meeting-house, 101 ; site and 
history of, 267, 268 ; burnt, 267 ; in 
Milton Place, 268. 

Queen's Ball last held in Boston, 
246. 

Queen's Chappell, 33. 

Queen Street, 65 ; changed to Court, 
77 ; Franklin's printing-office, 80. 

Queen's Light Dragoons, 231. 

Quincy Block, 279. 

Quincy, Dorothy. See Hancock and 
Scott. 

Quincy, Edmund (son of Josiah), 212. 

Quincy, E. S., 54, 188. 

Quincy, Josiah, 14, 23, 82 ; improves 
Town Dock, 128, 129, 130, 139, 196 ; 
birthplace, 248 ; establishes House 
of Industry and Reformation, 249 ; 
President of Harvard, 249 ; anecdotes 
of, 250, 279, 354 ; reception of La- 
fayette, 356 ; Neck paved by, 421. 

Quincy, Josiah, Jr. (Mayor), 23 ; res- 
idence, 357. 

Quincy, Josiah, Jr. (patriot), resi- 
dence, 248 ; dies, 249 ; sketch of, 
249 ; Mrs. Sigouruey's lines on, 249. 

Quincy, Judith, 212. 

Quincy, Mass., President Monroe at, 
100. 

Quincy Market, 127 ; description, 128, 
129. 

Quincy Place, 275, 280 ; trees in, 
409. 

Quincy, town of, 14, 26. 



474 



INDEX. 



R. 



Railways, experiment, 26, 278 ; Low- 
ell, 26, 151, 350 ; Worcester, 26 ; 
Providence, 26 ; Maine, 26, 151 ; 
Eastern, 26, 151, 350 ; Old Colony, 
27 ; Fitcliburg, 27, 151 ; Hartford 
and Erie (Norfolk County), 27. 

Rainbow, British ship, 220. 

Rainsford, Edward, 404. 

Rainsford's Island, 188. 

Rainsford's Lane. See Harrison Ave- 
nue. 

Rand, Isaac, 363. 

Randolph, Edward, first Collector, 34, 
156, 157, 200 ; imprisoned, 285. 

Randolph, town of, 14. 

Rantonl, Robert, portrait of, 340. 

Rat cliff, Rev. Robert, 34. 

Rawdon, Francis, 203. 

Rawson, Edward, 222. 

Rawson, Grindal, 3. 

Rawson's Lane. See Bromficld Street. 

Raymond, James, 394. 

Read, John, residence of, 402. 

Red Lyon Inn, site of, 156 ; fire of 
1676', 169. 

Red Lyon Wharf, 157. 

Reeil, Commodore George W., 189. 

Reed, Joshua, 429. 

Reed, William, store attacked, 224. 

Rehoboth, 5. 

Rejiertory, The (newspaper), 91. 

Reservoir grounds, 338, 350, 852. 

Revenge Church. See Second Church. 

Revere, Paul, 32, 01 ; celebrated ride, 
69 ; shop, 118 ; foundry, 120, 148, 
149 ; residence of, 159, 211 ; en- 
graves and prints money for Pro- 
vincial Congress, 159, 173, 182 ; 
narrative of ride to Lexington, 214, 
243, 282; shop, 338; illustrates 
Stamp Act repeal, 359, 371. 

Revere House, .site of, 371 ; named, 
371 ; distinguished guests, 371. 

Revere Place, 211. 

Revere's cannon and bell foundry, 200. 

Rice, Benjamin, 2S2. 

Ricliardfj, .Tolm, sliipyai-il of. 178. 

Riciimund Street, 19, 155, ]5(1, 157,198. 



Riedesel, General Baron, 231, 324. 

Rimmer, Dr., 344. 

Riot of 1863, 142. 

Ripley, Henry J., residence of, 222. 

Robertson, Alexander, 313. 

Robin, L'Abbe, his descrijition of Bos- 
ton, 18, 19, 114. 

Robinson, John, assaults James Otis, 
108, 253. 

Robinson, William, executed, 330. 

Rocluunbeau, Jean Baptiste, Count de, 
18, 61 ; army of, 113, 429. 

Rocliefoucauld, Liaucourt, Duke de, 
141. 

Rochester, Earl of, 34. 

Rodgers, Commodore John, 186, 188. 

Roebuck Passage, 131. Sec Merchant's 
Row. 

Roebuck Tavern, 131. 

Rog, John P., hanged, 424. 

Rogers, Daniel D., residence of, 358. 

Rogers, Isaiah, architect of Tremont 
House, 290 ; of Tremont Theatre, 
293 ; of Howard Athenosum, 368. 

Rogers, Simon, innkeeper, 428. 

Rogers, Rev. William M., 259. 

Roman Catholic Church, mass first 
celebrated in, 64. 

Romney, frigate, 170. 

Romney, Lord, 78. 

Ropes, William, residence of, 366. 

Ro])ewalks, first, 273 ; in Pearl Street, 
273 ; at Barton's Point, 273 ; riot at, 
in Pearl Street, 274 ; at the foot of 
Common, 324 ; burnt, 325 ; title of 
proprietors purchased, 825 ; on Bea- 
con Hill, 329, 352. 

Rose, frigate, 34. 

Ross, General, burns Washington, 
369. 

Rostopchin, Governor, Inirning of I\Ios- 
cow, 320. 

Rouillard, innkeeper, 254. 

Round Marsh, Tlie, 305. 

Rowe, John, suggests throwing the tea 
overboard, 230 ; residence of, 390. 

Rowe Street named, 230, 390. 

Rowe's Wharf, 109, 284. 

Rowse, Samuel, 40. 

Rowson, Mrs. Susanna, at Federal 



INIiKX. 



:1b 



street Theatre, 258 ; establishes 
school for young ladies, 259 ; seliool, 
429. 

Roxbury, 17 ; annexed, 23. 

Koyal Custom House, site in 1770, 97, 
98. 

Royal Deux Fonts regiment, 434 ; uni- 
form, 435. 

Roj'al Exchange Lane, 96. 

Royal Exchange, London, 136. 

Royal Exchange Tavern, location of, 
96, 97, 98. 

Royal Marines, part of, in Lexington 
expedition, 304. 

Ruby, Ann, 206. 

Riidiiall, Abel, 214, 215. 

Ruggles, Samuel, builds Faneuil Hall, 
135. 

Rumibrd, Count (Benjamin Thomp- 
son), 39 ; apprentice in Coruhill, 86, 
87, 154. 

Russell, Benjamin, 100, 207 ; anecdote 
of, 266 ; anecdote and residence of, 
388. 

Russell, John, 282. 

Russell, Joseph, 76. See Green. 

Russell, Joseph, Jr., 389. 

Russell, Thomas, 96, 180, 184, 253, 
383. 

Russell, Hon. Thomas, Collector of 
Boston, 169. 

Russell, William, 283. 

S. 

Sabin, Thomas, puts on first stage to 
Providence, 392. 

Sabine, Lorenzo, 97, 410. 

Sailor's Home, 87. 

Saint Andrew's Lodge, 150. 

Saint Helena, 1-39. 

Saint James Hotel, 96. 

Saint Maime, Count de, 435. 

Saint-Onge (regiment), 435. 

Salem, 25, 27, 35. 

Salem Church, 219, 220. 

Salem Street, 7 ; widened, 145 ; called 
Back Street, 153 ; description of, 
213, 219 ; origin, 219 ; Massachu- 
setts Spy printed in, 223. 



Saltonstall, Colonel Richard, 33. 
Salutation Street (Alley), 175. 
Salutation Tavern, site of, 175 ; ren- 
dezvous of the Boston Caucus, 176. 
Sandeman, Robert, 107, 212. See 

]\Iein. 
Sandemanians, first meetings of, 150 ; 

Cha])el, 172. 
Saratoga, battle of, 87, 103. 
Sargent, Heiny, 104, 141. 
Sargent, Lucius M. (Sigma), 114, 332, 

353, 384. 
Savage, Arthur, 217, 218. 
Savage, James, 227. 
Savannah, Ga., 103. 
Savings Bank (Tremont Street), 37. 
Savings Bank founded by, 417. 
Scarlet, Elizabeth, 206. 
Scarlet Letter, 92 ; description of, 93. 
Scarlett's Wharf, 114 ; description of, 

168. 
Scarlett's Wharf Lane, KiS. See Fleet 

Street. 
School Street, 28, 32, 56, .57, 63, 67. 
Schwartzenburg, Prince, 321. 
Scollay's Buildings, 37 ; description 

of, 74 ; history of, 75, 76 ; spinning 

school on site of, 302, 388. 
Scollay, John, 74. 
Scollay, William, 39, 74 ; residence of, 

75 ; im^jrovement of Franklin Street, 

254. 
Scollay Square, 74, 97. 
Sconce. See South Battery. 
Sconce Lane. See Hamilton Street. 
Scoot, Thomas, 206. 
Scott, Madam Dorothy, 124 ; residence 

of, 264 ; dies, 265 ; witnesses battle 

of Lexington, 265 ; anecdotes of, 265. 
Scott, Captain James, 264. 
Scott, General Winfield, presents flag 

to Mexican Volunteers, 379. 
Scotto, Thomas, 58. 
Seafort, ship, 178. 
Seamen's Bethel founded, 373. 
Sears's Building, 82, 83. Post-Office 

on site of, 104. 
Sears, David, 196 ; residence, 334 ; 

commands Cadets, 337 ; mansion, 

337, 389, 396. 



476 



INDEX. 



Socoiiil Baptist C!liurch, location and 
sketch of, 222, 223. 

Second Clnirch (New Brick), 84 ; history 
and location Of, 155, 156, 158, Itil. 

Seekonk Branch Railroad Company 
located on South Cove, 411. 

Segnr, Louis Philippe, Count de, 19 ; 
account of Boston Society in 1782, 
362, 435. 

Selfridge, Thomas 0., kills Austin, 
114. 

Serapis, frigate, ISO. 

Sergeant, Peter, builds Province House, 
236, 246. 

Seven Dials, 153. 

Seven Star Inn. See Pleiades. 

Seven Star Lane, Summer Street so- 
called, 387. 

Sever, James, 1S4. 

Sewall's Elm Pasture, 52. 

Sewall, Jonathan, 273, 364. 

Sewall, Rev. Joseph, 138, 232. 

Sewall, Samuel, 13, 35 ; residence of, 
51 ; marriage, 52 ; presides at witch- 
craft trials, 52, 204, 211, 228, 271 ; 
buried, 296, 362 ; plants trees, 409. 

Sewall Street, 52. 

Seward, Major, 206. 

Shattuck, Lemuel, 365. 

Shaw, Charles, 6, 8, 37, 102, lOQ*. 

Sliaw, Cliief Justice, 83. 

Sliaw, Francis, residence of, 158. 

Shaw, Lemuel, Chief Justice, 283 ; 
usher of Franklin School, 417. 

Sliaw, Robert G., residence of, 158. 

Shaw, Major Samuel, residence of, 158 ; 
challenges Lieutenant Wi-agg, 159. 

Shaw, William S., 38. 

Shawmut, 2, 3, 4, 6, 8, 10. 

Sliays, Daniel, 103. 

Sliays's Rebellion, 361. 

Shea, Lieutenant, anecdote of, 217. 

Sheaffe, Helen, 65. 

ShcafTe, Mrs., 53 ; residence of. 74, 410. 

Slieaflfe, Sir Roger Hale, 97, 154 ; resi- 
dence and sketch of, 410, 411. 

Slieati'e Street supposed residence of 
John Hull, 212. 

Sheafi'e, William, 05 ; Deputy Collec- 
toi- in 177(1, 97. 



Sheaffe, Margaret, 97. 

Slieafle, Susanna, 97. 

Shed, Joseph, 282. 

Sheehan's Pond, 329. 

Sheerness, British man-of-war, 332. 

Sliclburne, Lord, 398. 

Shelcock, Richard, innkeeper, 112. 

Shepard, Colonel, 275. 

Shepard, Preston, innkeeper, 248. 

Sheppard, John H., 221. 

Sheriff, Captain, 137. 

Shirley, Frances, 32. 

Shirley, Governor William, 28, 29, 30, 
31, 32, 3.5, 42, 62 ; supersedes Belclicr, 
102 ; returns from Louisburg, 115, 
140, 162, 179, 211, 215, 236 ; resi- 
dence of, 239 ; colonial stamp tax, 
239, 240 ; events of his administra- 
tion, 240 ; funeral of, 267 ; troops 
for Louisburg, 326 ; gifts to Trinity 
Cliureh, 387. 

Shirley, William, Jr., killed. 240. 

Ship Street (North), 153 ; description 
of, 168. 

Ship Tavern, site and history of, 174, 
175, 178. 

Sliort, Captain Richard, 210. 

Short Street (Kingston), 45. 

Shubrick, Commodore William B., ISG. 

Shurtletf, Nathaniel B., 8, 62. 

Shnte, Samuel, 31, 49, 102, 236, 247. 

Shreve, Crump, and Low, 390. 

Shrimpton's Lane, 56, 96. 

Shrimiiton, Colonel Samuel, 56. 

Sidewalks in Boston, 22. 

Siege of Boston, 86. 

Sigourney, Lieutenant James, 221. 

Sigourney, Lydia H., 35. 

Simons, Henry, 151. 

Simpson, Daniel, 150. 

Simjison, Isaac, 282. 

Sister Street, 262 ; name changed, 280. 
See Leather Street. 

Sixty-tiftli British Regiment, 32. 

Sixty-fourth British Regiment, 285. 

Skillin, Simeon, 92. 

Slater, Peter, 282. 

Slavery, negro, 13 ; white, 13, 14, 183. 

Sloper, Samuel, 282. 

Snrlling, Colonel Jusiah, 221. 



INDEX. 



477 



Snow, Caleb II., 133 ; residence of. l.'iS. 

Snow Hill. See Copp'.s Hill. 

Snow-Hill Street, lys, 204. 

Snow, Rev. W. T., 07. 

Small, General Jolm, 69, 125. 

Small-pox parties, 389. 

Smiliert, John, residence of, 72 ; studio, 

73 ; architect of Faneuil Hall, 135, 

1()5, 334. 
Smibert, Mary (Williams), 72, 276 ; 

Governor Oliver a patron. 279. 
Smibert, Nathaniel, 72. 
Smith, Abiel, 190. 
Smith, Barney, 230. 
Smith, Captain, 357. 
Smith, Lieutenant-Colonel Francis, 

commands Lexington expedition, 

242, 304. 
Smith, J. V. C, 331. 
Smith, Dr. Oliver, 306. 
Smith, Richard, innkeeper, 112 ; keeps 

Cro%\ni C^oft'ee House, 112. 
Smith, Svdney, 129. 
Smith, W. H., 40, 378. 
Society of the Cincinnati, 71 ; met at 

Bunch of Grapes, 105 ; anecdote of, 

367. 
Soissonnais (regiment), 435. 
Somers, Lord, 78. 
Somerset, British frigate, 203, 214, 

217. 
Somerset Club House, 363. 
Somerset Court. Sec Asliburton 

Place. 
Somerset, Mass., 52. 
Somerset Place (Allston Street), 363. 
Somerset Street, Webster's house in, 

46 ; named for, 52 ; conveyed to 

town, 52, 363. See Valley Acre. 
Somerset, The, 363 ; house built, 363 ; 

Lafayette lodges in, 363. 
Sons of Liberty, 331 ; Stamp Act re- 
peal, 3.59, 396, 397, 398. 
Sontag, Madame, 394. 
Soutl lack's Court, 48. 
Southack Street, 370. 
Southack, Cyprian, 48, 49, 302. 
South Allen Street, called Fayette 

Street, 316. See McLean Street. 
South Battery (Rowe's Wharf), 109, 



115, 158, 2.'<1 ; blown up, 272 ; de- 
scription of, 284, 327. St;e Sconce. 

Sou til Berwick, Me., 26. 

South Boston, 23, 25 ; City institu- 
tions, 376. 

South Boston Bridge, 7. 

South Boston Point, 338. 

South Burying-Ground (Washington 
Street), gates of, 96 ; Granary so 
calletl, 296. 

South Cove, 7, 8 ; improvement, 411. 

South End, 10. 

South Margin Street, 150. 

South Market Street, built, 129, 130. 

South Meeting-house. See Old South, 
228, 229. 

South Mills, 151. 

South Street, 7. 

Souverain, French ship, 437. 

South Writing-School, location and in- 
cident of, 314 ; concealment of 'can- 
non in, 314. 

Sparhawk, Nathaniel, 384. 

Si)arks, Jared, 233. 

Spear, Nathan, 129. 

Spear, Samuel, 349. 

Spear, Thomas, 283. 

Spear's Wliarf, 129. 

Siiiniiing-schools, establishment of,302. 

Sjarague, Charles, 364 ; impromptu on 
Lafayette's recejition, 354 ; home, 
416 ; anecdote of, 417. 

Sprague, Samuel, 283. 

Spring Gate, 234. 

Spring Lane, 10, 39, 109, 234. 

Springs of water, 10, 22. 

Spurr'^ John, 282. 

Spurzheim, John Gaspard, residence 
of, 275. 

Stackpole House, 254. 

Stackjiole, William, 254. 

Stamps of Colonial St.amp Act, 239, 2-10. 

Stamp Act, celebration of repeal, 358, 
359. 

Staniford Street, 370. 

Stanley, Lord, 204 ; visits Boston^ 341, 
367.' 

St.ark, General John, relics of Ben- 
nington, 346. 

Starr, .lames, 2S2. 



478 



INDEX. 



State Bank, 95, 104, 201. 

State House (new), 'd'M, 339 ; built on 
Hancock's Pasture, 339 ; architect 
of, 343 ; styled the " Hub," 344 ; 
history of, 344 ; statue of Webster, 
344 ; of Horace Mann, 345 ; of Gov- 
ernor Andrew, and General Wash- 
ington, 345 ; tablets in, 345 ; Lafay- 
ette's reception in, 345, 346 ; Senate 
Chanilier, portraits and revolution- 
ary relics in, 346 ; ancient codfish 
in liepresentatives' Chamber, 348, 
355 ; faulty proportions of, 370. 

State Street, 26, 41 ; Governor Lever- 
ett's house, 83 ; early settlers in, 88 ; 
celebration of Declaration of Inde- 
pendence, 91 ; widened, 101 ; called 
the Broad Street, 101 ; Jeremiah 
Dumnier born in, 103 ; retrospective 
view of, 113 ; military disjilays in, 
11*3 ; fire of 1711, 113 ; aflniy in, 
114 ; signs in, 146. 

Statues, public, 344, 345. 

Stavers, Bartholomew, 26. 

Stebbins, Mrs., 407. ' 

Stebbins, Miss, 345. 

Steele, John, commands North Bat- 
ter)^, 177 ; ropewalk, 370. 

Stevens, Ebenezer, 282, 295. 

Stevenson, Marmaduke, hung, 330. 

Stevenson, Mary, 5. 

Stewart, Charles, 186 ; commands Con- 
stitution, 191, 194. 

Stewart, Captain, 62. 

Stewart, T. L., 378. 

Stewart, W., 378. 

Stillman, Rev. Samuel, residence of, 
222 ; buried, 296. 

Stillman Street, named, 222. 

St. Andrew, Holborn, 67. 

St. Andrew's Lodge, 196. 

St. Botolph's Church, Boston, Eng- 
land, 6, 7, 50. 

St. Clair, General Arthur, 221. 

St. Mary Woolnoth, church of, 210. 

St. Paul's, Warren's remains entombed 
in, 69 ; arcliitect of, 310 ; descrip- 
tion of, 311 ; a new era of church 
arcliifecture, 311 ; fourth Episcopal 
church, 311. 



St. Paul's, London, Eiigland, 32. 

St. Vincent, Lord, 407. 

Stocks, location of, 92. 

Stoddard, Mr., 217. 

Stoddard, Mrs., 21. 

Stone, Captain, 15. 

Stone Chapel, 33. Sec King's Chapel. 

Stone, General Ebenezer W., 147. 

Stone, Emily, 206. 

Stone, innkeeper, 96. 

Storer, Mr., 389. 

Storey. Sec Pierpont. 

Storrs, Rev. Richard S., 415. 

Story, Joseph, 44, 100 ; anecdote of, 
249 ; opinion of Dexter, 353. 

Stoughton, Governor William, 148. 

Strafford, Earl of, 51. 

Strong, Governor Caleb, sword of, 40 ; 
resides in Province House, 246 ; 
sketch of, 246, 247 ; builds works 
on Noddle's Island, 247 ; personal 
appearance, 247 ; town residence of, 
307, 364. 

Stuart, Gilbert, 38 ; portrait of Knox, 
86 ; of Wasliington, 141 ; anecdote 
of Talleyrand, 142, 276 ; residence 
of, 407 ; sketch and anecdotes of, 
407, 408. 

Stuart, Jane, 407. 

Suli-Treasury (Exchange), 103. 

Sudlniry Lane, 47. Sec Sudl mry Street. 

Surlliury Street, 41 ; Governor Eustis 
lives in, 367, 369 ; trees in, 409. 

Sudbury River, 23. 

Sullivan, James, 39, 114, 201 ; tomb 
of, 296 ; residence of, 371 ; sketch 
of, 388, 433. 

Sullivan, General John, 359, 381. 

Sullivan, Richard, anecdote of, 388. 

Sullivan, William, 32, 190, 280, 388. 

Sully, Thomas, 276, 336. 

Summer Street,^ 46, 201, 227 ; descrip- 
tion and residents of, 381 ; called 
Mylne Street, 381. 

Sumner, Governor Increase, 344 ; por- 
trait of, 346. 

Sumner, General W. H., 243, 346, 
348, 367. 

Sumner Street. Sec ]\Iount Vernon. 

Sun Court Street, 159, 161, 2b7. 



INDEX. 



479 



Sun Fire OfTice in Boston, 107. 

Sun Tavern, General Dearborn's res- 

i<lence, 106, 286 ; other taverns of 

same name, 286. 
Surriage, Agnes (Lady Frankland), 

162, 163. 
Swan, James, residence of, 283, 313. 
Swasey, Major, 383. 
Swedenborg, Baron, 280. 
Swift, General Joseph G., 100. 
Swing Bridge, 127. 
Symmes, Andrew, Jr., 66. 



T Wliarf, 114, 115. 

Tabernacle, Millerite, location, 367 ; 
incidents of, 367, 368 ; changed into 
a theatre and destroyed, 368. 

Talbot, Commodore Isaac, 187, 196. 

Talleyrand, Prince, in Boston, 141 ; 
amour of, 142. 

Talleyrand, Perigord, anecdote of, 435. 

Tarleton, Colonel, 436. 

Taylor, Rev. E. T. (Father), residence 
of, 169. 

Taylor's Insurance Office, 196. 

Tea Party, 72, 115, 120, 148, 149 ; 
meeting, 229, 230, 231, 264 ; route 
of, 271 ; arrival at Griflin's Wharf, 
281 ; names of, 282 ; anecdotes of, 
282, 283, 284. 

Tedesco, Fortiinata, 368. 

Temple, Sir John, 337, 349. 

Temple, Robert, 215. 

Temple Street, named, 350. 

Territory included in Boston, 14; en- 
largement of, 23. 

Thacher, James, 430. 

Thaeher, Peter, 39, 123, 155 ; installa- 
tion, 173. 

Thacher, Peter 0., 38 ; office, 402. 

Tliacher, Samuel C, 38. 

Tliatcher, Mary, 204. 

Thacher, Rev. Thomas. 227. 

Thaxter, Adam W., 141. 

Thayer, Epliraini, 182. 

Theatre Alley, 254. See Devonshire 
Street. 



The Great ArtilliTy. Sre Ancient and 
Honorable Artillery, 137. 

Thirty-eighth British Regiment, 113, 
116 ; arrival of, 170. 

Thomas and Andrews, bookstore of, .301 . 

Thomas, Isaiah, 79, SO, 98, 100, 107 ; 
l)rints Massachusetts Spy, 223 ; 
bookstore, 223, 252 ; anecdote of, 
413, 433. 

Thomas, Mr., Viody of, exhumed, 216. 

Thompson's Island, incident of pur- 
chase, 431. 

Thorndike's Building, 287. 

Thorndike, Israel, 3^89. 

Thome, Charles R., 259. 

Thornton, J. Wingate, 365. 

Thornton's Shipyard, 181. 

Thorwaldsen, 344. 

Three Doves, 146, 147. 

Three Nuns and a Comb, 146. 

Three Sugar Loaves and Canister, 146. 

Ticknor, George, residence of, 353. 

Ticknor, Mrs., 364. 

Ticonderoga, removal of camion from, 
86, 87. 

Tileston, John, residence of, 218. 

Tileston Street, 174, 213 ; named, 218. 

Tileston, Thomas, 66. 

Tilley's Wharf, 180. 

Tingey, Commodore, 382. 

Tinville, Fouquier, 436. 

Tippecanoe, battle of, 168. 

Tontine Crescent, 39 ; built, 254 ; de- 
scription of, 255. 

Topliff's Reading Room, 269. 

Topography of Boston, 7. 

Tout, Elizabeth, 206. 

Tower, Abraham, 222. 

Town Bull, 129. 

Towni Cove, 7, 8, 115, 177. 

Town Dock, 7, 8, 19, 102, 108; de- 
scription of, 126, 127 ; corn market 
at, 141, 152, 389. 

Town House, 34 ; (Old State House), 
58, 89 ; Pillory and Stocks in front 
of, 92 ; Post-Office in, 104 ; burnt, 
113 ; massacre, 126, 285, 399, 400. 

Town Pum)\ location of, 84, 118 ; an 
other in North Square, 159. 

Town Records, 19. 



480 



INDEX. 



Town Watering-Plarc, CSl. 

Towiiseud, Colonel Penn, 289. 

Transcript, Boston, 267. 

Trask, Isaac, innkeeper, 248. 

Trask, Nabhy, 248. 

Traveller Building. See C'oluniljian 
Centinel. 

Traverse Street, Warren and Eagle 
Theatres in, 378. 

Trefry, Widow, 26. 

Trees, disappearance of, 409 ; planting 
of, by early settlers, 409, 410. 

Treniont House, 289 ; built, and anec- 
dotes of, 290, 291 ; C'onuuon extends 
to, 296, 3J3. 

Treniont Row, 47, 56 ; Choate's office 
in, 82 ; Dr. Lloyd's in, 363. 

Tremont Street, 9, 10, 35, 37, 38, 39, 
41, 47, 48, 49, 63, 65, <oi, 70, 72, 75 ; 
Faneuil's house in, 135 ; descrii)tion 
of, 289 ; Long Acre, 289 ; muster of 
Earl Percy's brigade, 304 ; Mather 
Byles a resident of, 412 ; a part 
called Nassau and Holyoke Street, 
412 ; opened to Roxljury, 412. 

Tremont Temple burnt, 292. 

Tremont Theatre, history of, 291 ; cast 
at opening, 292 ; managers, 292 ; 
description of, 29-3, 378. 

Triangular Warehouse, 130, 131. 

Trimountain, 6, 17. 

Trinity Church, 30 ; description and 
history of, 386, 387 ; General Wasli- 
ington attends, 387, 416. 

Trinity Church, New York, 227. 

Triomphant, French ship, 437. 

Tripoli, 171. 

Trucks, long, 177. 

Truckmen, 177. 

Truman, John, 283. 

Trumbull Gallery (Yale), 73. 

Trumbull, Jonathan, 414. 

Trumbull, Colonel John, 69 ; studio in 
Boston, 73 ; paintings 74, 269, 336 ; 
exploit of, 426. 

Truxton, Commodore Thomas, 182. 

Tucker, Joseph, rebuilds Christ Church 
steeple, 214. 

Tucker, (Jommodore Samuel, residence 
of, 220 ; exploits, 221. 



Tuckerman, H. T., home of, 421. 

Tuckerman, Joseph, 38. 

Tudor, Frederick, founds the ice trade, 
304. 

Tudor, Deacon John, 175. 

Tudor, William (Judge), 82, 304. 

Tudor, Madam, 175. 

Tuilor, William, Jr., 38 ; originates 
North American Review, 304 ; pro- 
poses a monument on Bunker Hill, 
304. 

Tudor's Buildings, 82. 

Tun and Bacchus, 1 46. 

Tupper, General Benjamin, exploit on 
Boston Neck, 427. 

Turell, Mr., 123 ; Captain, 161. 

Turner, Robert, innkeeper, 122. 

Tuttle, Charles W., 272. 

Twelfth Congregational CJhurch, 64. 

Twenty-third British Regiment, part 
of, in Lexington expedition, 304. 

Twenty-ninth British Regiment, 89 ; 
quarters, 121, 123 ; at the Massacre, 
126 ; on the Common, 326. 

Twickenham, 145. 

Two Palaverers. Sec Salutation Tav- 
ern, 176. 

Tyler, Royal, 269. 

Tyler, sculptor of London, England, 32. 

Tyng, Caiitaiu Edward, 179. 



u. 

Uldans, 436. 

LTmbrellas lirst used in Boston, 116. 

Union Bank, 113. 

Union Church, 148. 

Union College, 262. 

Union Hill, ^203. 

Union Street, 10, 126, 130 ; named, 

145 ; widened, 147. 
United States Bank, first location, 

92 ; directors of, 389 ; in 1824, 94 ; 

sketch of, 95 ; second location, 95 ; 

Eagle from old Bank, 95 ; iron gates 

of, ^96 ; third location, 96, 104, 295. 
United States frigate, 181 ; accident to, 

183. 
United States Hotel, located on South 

Cove, 411. 



INDEX. 



481 



Universalist Cliui-cli, Scliool Street, 63, 

64. 
University Hall (Cambridge), 370. 
University of Utrecht, 103. 
Upsliall, Nicholas, residence of, 157. 
Urann, Tliomas, 282. 
Uring, Captain Nathaniel, account of 

the Neck, 419. 
Urqhart, James, 383. 
Ursuliue Convent in Boston, 256. 
Usher, Mr., Aiidros confined in house 

of, 285. 



Valley Acre, situation of, 365, 369. 

Valparaiso, Essex blockaded in, 171. 

Van Buren, Martin, visits Boston, 139, 
185, 192. 

Vane, Sir Henry, 50 ; executed, 51, 
103, 109, 226. 

Vardy, Luke, keeps Royal Exchange 
Tavern, 96. 

Vassall, Florentine, 31, 32. 

Vassall, John, 55. 

Vassall, Leonard, residence of, 3S9. 

Vassall, William, 31, 76 ; residence of, 
389. 

Vaudreuil, M. de, 61 ; fleet of, in Bos- 
ton, 437. 

Vaughan, Charles, 39; improves Frank- 
lin Street, 254. 

Vergcnnes, Count de, 58. 

Vermont, ship-of-the-llne, 185. 

Vernon, Admiral Edward (Old Grog), 
110. 

Vernon Street, 375. 

Vidal, Captain, 142. 

Vila, .James, innkeeper, 105. 

Vine Street, built, 376. 

Viomenil, General, 356 ; entry into 
Boston in 1782, 433, 434. 

Virginia, ship-of-the-line, 18.5. 

Vyal, John, innkeeper, 174. 



W. 

Wade, Edward, 20. 

Wadsworth, James, bounty for rats, 
395. 



11 



Wadsworth, Recompense, first master 
of Nortli Latin School, 218. 

Wakefield, Cyrus, 124. 

Wales, Prince of, in Boston, 371. 

Walker, Admiral Sir H., 48. 

Walker, Robert, 305. 

W\'illach, Mr., 262. 

Wallcut, Mr., 39. 

Waller, Edmund, 181. 

Walley, Thomas, 196. 

Walnut Street, 334 ; residents of, 337, 
338. 

Waltham Street, sea wall built to, 
420. 

Walter, Arthur M., 38. 

Ward, General Artcmas, 69 ; com- 
mands in Boston, 382 ; relieved, 383, 
432. 

"Wardell, Jonathan, 25, 70. 

Wards, division into, civil and militarv, 
21. 

Warren, John C, 38, 61, 247 ; resi- 
dence of, 297, 311, 376. 

Warren, Dr. John, house, 60. 

Warren, Josei)h, birthplace of, 60 ; 
I'esidencc of, 68 ; manner of his 
death, 69, 70, 124; portrait, 140, 
14S, 149, 176, 203, 211, 214 ; bullet 
which killed him, 218 ; address in 
Old South, 228, 248, 269 ; cliaise of, 
274, 283 ; remains placed in Granary 
Ground, 297, 308, 311 ; a student of 
nu'dicine, 363 ; Governor Eustis stud- 
ies with, 366 ; anecdote of, 423. 

Warren Street, Roxbury, 61. 

Warren Theatre, 378. 

Warren, William, 40 ; debut in Boston, 
368. 

Washington Artillery, 288. 

Washington Bank, site of, 404. 

Washington Gardens, old Masonic 
Temple built on site of, 312 ; loca- 
tion of, 312 ; history of, 313. 

Washington, George, 31 , 38 ; visit of, to 
Boston, 42. 43, 44, 58 ; visits Boston, 
1756, 62, 66, 73 ; third visit, 91, 124; 
portrait by Stuart, 141, 158; ap- 
proves building six frigates, 181 ; 
first monument to, 216, 220 ; de- 
feated, 244, 266, 279, 285, 310 ; stat- 



482 



INDEX. 



ues of, 344, 345 ; orders Boston at- 
tackeil, 359, 373 ; attends Brattle 
Street and Trinity in 1789, 387 ; 
Stuart's portrait of, 408 ; orders 
levelling of works on Neck, 42(3 ; 
imil'orm of, 429 ; arms of, 431 ; en- 
try into Boston, 177t5, 432. 

Washington Hall, site of, 430. 

Washington House, site of, 429. 

Washington Hotel. See Hall. 

Washington Market, 426 ; site of, 429. 

Washington, Martha, 38. 

Washhigton Monument, 278. 

Washington Place, 288 ; Gilbert Stu- 
art's residence in, 407. 

Washington Street, 20, 22, 35 ; (Corn- 
hill, Marlborough, Newbury, Or- 
ange), 102; great tire of 1787, 4]iJ ; 
narrowness of, 419 ; named, 420 ; 
extent of, 420. 

Washington Tlieatre. >St'e Garden, 313. 

Washington Village, 23. 

Wasji, American ship, 280. 

Watch-house on Beacon Hill, 334. 

Water, supply of, 22, 23. 

Water Street, 37 ; bridge at foot of, 
109, 141 ; description of, 234 ; Brit- 
ish barrack in, 234 ; trees in, 409. 

Watertown, 159. 

Webb, Jolui, 173, 174. 

Webl), Mr., leaves legacy for Alms- 
house, 300. 

Webster Buildings, 46. 

Webster, Daniel, 44 ; law office, 44 ; 
scliool, 45 ; anecdotes of, 45, 46, 47 ; 
first oflice, 79, 82, 124, 140 ; portrait 
in Faneuil Hall, 140, 1.50. 279; 
statue of, 344, 353 ; Lafayette visits, 
865 ; anecdotes of, 382 ; receives 
Lafayette, 382 ; defends Powers, 
424. 

Webster, Edward, died, 46, 379. 

Webster, Ezekiel, 45. 

Webster, Fletcher, killed, 46. 

Welister, John White, residence of, 
165 ; execAition of, 375, 378. 

Webster, Redford, residence of, 16.'). 

W(M-klv Rehearsal, 234. 

Welsh' Fu.sileers at Bunker Hill, 2ii3, 
229, 285. 



Wells, S. A., 141. 

Wells, William, 38. 

Wellfleet, 49 

Welsteed, Kev. William, 336. 

Wendell, Jacob, 42, 6a, 115. 

Wendell, John, 42. 

Wendell, Oliver, 65, 66 ; residence of, 
279. 

Wentworth, Mrs., 389. 

Wesley, John, 172. 

Wesleyan Association Building, site of 
Indian Queen, 248. 

West, Benjamin, 38, 336; Stuart a 
pupil of, 408. 

West Church (Ljnide Street), 72, 234 ; 
wimlmUl near, 369 ; historv of, 374, 
416. 

West Boston, 10 ; windmill at, 199 ; 
Powder House at, 329 ; defence 
of, 362 ; description of, 369, 370 ; 
streets of, 370 ; town institutions at, 
374. 

West Boston Bridge, 369. 

West End, 10. 

West Hill, mortar battery on, 325. 

West Newbury, Franklin's press at, 
80. 

West, Raphael, 408. 

Vv^est Row, location of, 371. 

West Roxbury, 23. 

West, Rev. Samuel, 415. 

West Street, 10, 93 : limit of, the Mall, 
306 ; Haymarket in, 313 ; Whipping- 
post and Pillory near, 313. 

Western Avenue (Mill Dam), 25. 

Westminster Abbey, 32. 

Wetherle, Joshua, appointed mint- 
master, 422. 

Wetniore, Judge, 403. 

Wetmore, William, 389. 

Whalley, General Edward, 55. 

Wharton and Bowes, shop of, 85. 

Wheatley, John, 233. 

Wheatley, Phillis, residence and sketch 
of, 233. 

Wheeler, Benjannn, GC). 

Wheeler, David, 20. 

Wheeler, Josiah, 282 ; builds Hollis 
Street Church, 415. 

Wheelei', Mr., 322. 



INDEX. 



48:] 



Wheeler's Point, 25 ; trees planted on, 

409. 
■\Vlieelwright's Wliarf, British barraclcs 

on, 274, 284, 358. 
Whidah (ship), 49. 
Whig Club, 2(J9. 

Wliipping-Post, location of, 92, 313. 
Whiston, Mr., 314, 315. 
White Horse Tavern, site and sketch 

of, 392, 393. 
White, Marcy, 206. 
White Plains, battle of, 87. 
Whitebread Alley. See Harris Street. 
Whitefield, Rev. George, 64, 102 ; 

preaches on the Common, 358. 
Whiting, William, 74. 
Whitman, Zachariah, 416. 
Whitmore, W. H., 122. 
Wliitney, Colonel, 287. 
Whittington, Richard, 131. 
Whitwell, William, 387. 
Wilder, Marshall P., 365. 
Wildes, Ejihraini, innkeeper, 154. 
Wilkes, John, 52, 269, 432. 
Willard, Solomon, architect of United 

States Bank, 94, 310 ; sketch of, 311 ; 

architect of Bunker Hill Monument, 

312 ; discovers Bunker Hill Quarry, 

312, 337. 
William and Mary, 210. 
William III., charter of, 209, 237. 
Williams College, 120. 
Williams Court, 338. 
Williams John, 170. 
Williams, John, hanged, 424. 
Williams, John D., 420. 
Williams, John Foster, 211 ; died, 

211, 264 ; street named for, 280. 
Williams Market, old fortilications 

near, 424, 425. 
Williams, Major, 203. 
Williams Street named, 280. Sec Mat- 
thews Street. 
Williamsburg, battle of, 168. 
Willis's Lane. See Winter Street. 
Wilmington, Mass., 26. 
Wilson's Lane, 56 ; description of, 101. 
Wilson, John, 50, 91 ; estate of, 92, 

212. 
Wiltshire Street. See Chambers Street. 



Windmill, old, 199 ; one at West Bos- 
ton, 199. ,*c' Windmill Point. 

Windmill Hill. Sec Copp's Hill. 

Windmill Point, 7 ; (Wheeler's) 25, 
381. 

Wing's Lane (Elm Street), 102, 126, 
145. 

Winnisimmet, 14, 24 ; feny, 68. 

Winslow, Governor Edward, 40 ; his 
chair, 347. 

Winslow Blues, 137, 190. 

Winslow, John, recognizes Warren's 
body, 69 ; store and residence of, 
87. 

Winter Hill, 203. 

Winter Place, Samuel Adams's house 
in, 308. 

Winter Street, noted residents, 307 ; 
]\Irs. Dexter's,307 ; Sanuiel Adams's, 
308 ; called Blott's, Bannister's, and 
Willis's Lane, 308. 

Winthrop House, site, 318 ; burnt, 
318. 

Winthrop, John, 2, 3, 4, 9, 10, 11 ; 
chosen selectman, 14, 19, 25 ; burial- 
place, 35 ; portrait, 40, 47, 50, 51 ; 
Anne Hutchinson on trial, 63 ; at- 
tends First Church, 91 ; invites Lord 
Ley to his house, 109 ; journal, 130; 
orders ship built at Medford, 178 ; 
company, 202 ; residence, 225 ; house 
destroyed by British, 225 ; sketch 
of, 225 ; death, 225 ; statue of, 226- 
234 ; portraits of, 346, 347 

Winthrop, Judge, 39. 

Winthrop's Marsh, 109. 

Winthrop Place, 364. 

Winthrop, Robert C, 57 ; birthplace, 
254 ; residence of, 337 ; proposes 
Fraiddin statue, 337, 352. 

Winthrop, sloop, 186. 

Winthrop. Lieutenant-Governor Thom- 
as L., 139, 190 ; residence of, 337 ; 
Lafayette visits, 364 

Wirt, William, 82. 

Woliurn, 86. 

Wood, original gro^vth of, 10. 

Wood, William, 6, 16. 

Woodbridge, R'njamin, 96, 332. 

Woodbury, Levi, 139, 185. 



\l 



4S4 



INDEX. 



Woodmansie's Wharf, 127. 
Worcester Spy. ticc Massaclmsetts 

Spy. 

Wolfe, General, proposed monument 

to, 241, 244, 326, 327. 
Workhouse in Park Street, 203, 299, 

300 ; occupied by woundetl, 300, 

359. 
Wortley, Lord, visits Boston, 341. 
Wragg, Lieutenant, quarters of, 158. 
Wren, Sir Christopher, ejiitaph, 70, 

3(59. 
Wright, Colonel Isaac Hull, 379. 



Wyeth, Mr.,2S3. 

Wyre, Robert, residence of, 171. 



Yale College, 72. 

Yale, Governor Elihu, 73 ; epitaph, 7-3. 
York (Toronto), Royal Standard cap- 
tured at, 106. 
Yorktown, Va., 103. 
Young, A. B.,113. 
Yomig, Dr. John, 176, 269. 
Young, Tliomas, 282. 



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